The Canterbury Festival Schools’ Poetry Competition returns for 2024, inviting children aged 5-18 to submit poems based on this year’s International Poetry Day word ‘Counting’.

In 2023 the Schools’ Poetry Competition received more than 500 entries from participating primary and secondary schools across Canterbury and the East Kent district. From this number, 28 poets aged 6-18 were shortlisted and invited to read work at the Schools’ Poetry Competition awards-evening which was held at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre, attended by teachers, parents and family.

Shortlisted poets will be invited to read their poem in public at the Schools’ Poetry Competition Showcase on Thursday 3 October 2024 and poems will be published in an anthology.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 19 July 2024

Click here to download an entry form

Schools/home-schools should complete only one entry form for all the poems entered and send them as one batch to [email protected]