It’s coming up to the end of term now and as a Creative Writing Mentor and as a poet myself, it would be remiss of me not to promote a couple of last minute poetry competitions for students. So here we go – pens at the starting line:
Betjeman Poetry Prize
- Open to 10-13 year old residents in the UK.
- First prize £1000 (£500 to you, £500 to the English department of your school).
- The theme is ‘place’.
- Deadline 31 July 2016.
- FREE TO ENTER.
Foyle Young Poets
- Open to 11-17 year olds – location not specified, but must be in English.
- Winners receive an award on National Poetry Day on 6 October 2016.
- Winner will be published in the Foyle Anthology, distributed to 24,000 schools, libraries and arts organisations across the UK.
- Deadline 31 July 2016.
- FREE TO ENTER.
Best of luck to all you budding young poets in the world!
About Leilanie Stewart
Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry.
In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.
Leilanie Stewart 