There are several benefits of encouraging your students to enter the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.
Five of the 11-14 year old winners will win a free short term poetry residency for their schools, tailored to include mentoring time, workshops and even the chance of an INSET session, based on our Poetryclass.
And the three schools that inspire their pupils to enter the greatest number of poems to FYP will receive generous collections of twenty-five books from tall-lighthouse, Picador, Faber & Faber, Bloodaxe Books , Salt Publishing Seren Books and Picador for their libraries.
You can enter whole classes using our Class Set Entry Form (coming soon) or students can enter directly online using our online entry form - ideal if you want to encourage ICT usage.
We can also provide extra booklets of I Will See Great Things plus posters, and a DVD packed with an array of inspiring ideas and readings from Winning Foylers from over the last 2 years (while stocks last). If you would like to use these in your teaching, or just distribute booklets to your students, simply email us or write to Foyle Young Poets Class Sets, The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton St, London WC2H 9BX with your name and address so we can send them to you.
Any of your students who become winners will receive prizes from us, including - for the fifteen overall winners - an invitation to spend a week working on their poetry in an Arvon centre with the judges. This is a valuable CV entry.
Previous winners have gone on to appear on Poems on the Underground, in various poetry magazines (even setting up their own), have been invited to read at literary festivals and several have gone on to highly regarded universities in the UK and abroad - but, perhaps more importantly, it gives a massive boost to a young poet's skills and confidence. One previous winner told us it left her feeling "invincible"!
Email Foyle Young Poets
Tel 020 7420 9892
Margaret Hodge, former Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport:
"I was interested to hear about the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and in particular its ability to engage young people with poetry in a way that is inclusive and challenging."
David Lammy, former Minister for Culture:
"I am delighted to give my support to the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2006.
"Discovering poetry is one of the great pleasures of life and this competition is a wonderful way for young people to take part in an art form that is both inclusive and challenging.
"I would like to offer my sincere congratulations not only to those receiving prizes but to all those who have taken part. The competition will continue to find and encourage new creative talent and I am sure that the awards ceremony will once again be a wonderful event for all involved."