Hampshire Young Poets

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED

Theme: HOME

Open to young people across Hampshire in three age categories:
4 to 7 years | 8 to 11 years | 12 to 16 years

In this year’s Hampshire Young Poets competition, we’d like you to write a poem on the theme of ‘home’. Whether home is a place or if it’s found in the people who matter to you most, we want to read about what the word means to you. Share your thoughts with us in a poem of no more than 14 lines. The winners and runners-up will be announced at an awards ceremony at The Arc, Winchester, on Saturday 14 October 2023. 

Competition closing date: Monday 31 July 2023.

Prizes

First prize in each category: £50 National Book Token, plus £50 for your school to spend on poetry books, supported by P&G Wells

Second prize in each category: £25 National Book Token, plus £25 for your school to spend on poetry books

Third prize in each category: £10 National Book Token, plus £10 for your school to spend on poetry books

Hampshire Young Poets is a partnership between Hampshire Cultural Trust, Winchester Poetry Festival and Hampshire Library Service. School prizes kindly sponsored by P&G Wells, Winchester.

Enter the competition online by clicking here The competition is now closed to entries.

To enter by post, on a separate sheet of A4 paper, please provide the following information: 

• Name
• Address
• Age at time of submitting entry
• Contact phone number
• Email address
• Where you heard about the competition.

Send your poem and entry sheet in an envelope clearly marked Hampshire Young Poets 2023: Home to:

Hampshire Cultural Trust 
Chilcomb House
Chilcomb Lane
Winchester
Hampshire SO23 8RB

Competition rules

• The competition is open to any young person in the three specified age categories who lives or studies in Hampshire.
• Entry is free.
• Entries can be submitted online or by post.
• The poem should be no longer than 14 lines, in English, be the entrant’s own work and should not have been published elsewhere, including online, and not have won any other competition. You may enter more than one poem if you wish.
• Closing date is midnight GMT 31 July 2023.
• No changes can be made once entries have been submitted.
• The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• The winners will be contacted by email or post and announced at a ceremony at The Arc, Winchester, on Saturday 14 October 2023. Unfortunately we are unable to contact entrants who have not been successful.

2023 Competition Winners

4 - 7 Years:

First place: HOME, Joy Kamara

Second place: I love my home and my family, Alexandra-Elise Urry

Third Place: Save Our Homes Today!, Bliss Evelyn Aspray 

8 - 11 Years:

First place: This is what I call home....., Nia Matthews

Second place: Lying Awake at Home, Joseph Buckland

Third place: So Does A Refugee, Kataleja Tuzikiene

12 - 16 years:

First place: Home, Ella Tighe

Second place: Home, Isabella Golding

Third place: three boys, Shravya Subash

Hampshire Young Poets 2023 winners with Hampshire Poet Nazneen Ahmed Pathak

2022 Competition Winners

4 - 7 Years:

First place: #The Queen, Leonardo Rogers

Second place: It's the Jubilee!, Nia Matthews

8 - 11 Years:

First place: The Jubilee, Clover Mason

Second place: The Jubilee, Layal Soudi

Third place: Red, White and Blue, Isabelle Evans

12 - 16 years:

First place: The Wave, Molly Towgood

Second place: Reflection from Platinum Jubilee, Ffion Turberfield

Third place: Jubilee Celebration, Bea Underwood-Russell

Hampshire Young Poets 2022 winners with Hampshire Poet Nazneen Ahmed Pathak