Peacock Poetry Prize to return in Brighton Festival 2015
Annual creative writing competition takes theme of ‘birds’
Brighton Festival 2015 has announced the return of the popular Peacock Poetry Prize. The annual creative writing competition, produced by Brighton Festival and Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), asks local poets aged between 7 - 18 years to explore and respond to a specific theme in an imaginative and inventive way. Submissions are divided into three age groups - those writers aged between 7-10 years, 11-14 years and 15-18 years old.
This year’s is ‘birds’; a subject chosen by Brighton Festival 2015 Guest Director Ali Smith.
As Ali Smith writes -
Who were the first singers?
What direct link back to the days of the dinosaurs can we see all round us in the air, in the trees, on the ground, every day?
What has bones that are hollow to make themselves even lighter?
Birds. They're waiting in the wings.
What kind of creature – apart from people in an aeroplane, I mean – can fly for miles but be completely asleep all the way?
Which ones can fly backwards, and which can beat its wings 50 times a second?
Which can fly underwater?
Which can fly nearly a thousand miles a day?
Which helped with the war effort in both the first and the second world wars, and were even given medals for their service?
And here's a question as old as the birds : why did that chicken cross the road?
A charm of chaffinches, a chime of wrens, a colony of gulls, a congregation of eagles, an exaltation of larks, a flamboyance of flamingos, a gaggle of geese, a glittering of hummingbirds, a gulp of swallows, a huddle of penguins, a kettle of hawks, a murder of crows, a murmuration of starlings, a paddling of ducks, a quarrel of sparrows, a wisdom of owls.
Spread your wings.
Pippa Smith, Head of Creative Learning at Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said, ‘the Peacock Poetry Prize is always a wonderful opportunity for young people to get involved with Brighton Festival. I’m always taken aback at the number and range of submissions we receive, and this year I hope Ali Smith’s theme of ‘birds’ will see our young writers’ imaginations soar into the clouds to produce some wonderful poetry.’
Chris Thomson, Principal at BHASVIC said ‘the Peacock Poetry Prize is a wonderful way of bringing the writing talents of young people from all across Sussex to a focus; encouraging them to engage with the Festival’s theme and to look on themselves as practitioners as well as participants in this world-class arts festival on their doorstep.’
Finalists of the competition are treated to a reception during Brighton Festival in May, at which the winners are announced.
To enter, budding bards are invited to email your entry (including your name and age) by Monday 20 April to [javascript protected email address] with ‘Peacock’ in the subject line, with no more than 3 entries per person and a maximum poem length of 40 lines.
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