Winchester Poetry Festival and Hampshire Cultural Trust are working together once more to encourage young people in Hampshire to express themselves through poetry, in the Hampshire Young Poets Competition 2025.
This year’s theme is ‘Friendship’ and young people from across Hampshire are asked to write a poem of no more than 14 lines on this theme. Submissions are open now.
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.”
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.
In 2025, people across the world are celebrating the birthday of Hampshire author Jane Austen, who was born 250 years ago. Jane had many friends and often wrote about friendship in her novels. Inspired by Jane, her life and the stories she wrote, youngsters are invited to explore the theme of ‘Friendship’.
The organisers say “we want to read about what friendship and your friends mean to young people in Hampshire”.
Entries are open to young people who live or study in Hampshire in three different age categories; 4-7, 8-11 and 12-16 years. The competition is free to enter and there will be National Book Token prizes for the winners, supported by Paris Smith, matched with P&G Wells book tokens for the schools (or education provider) of the winning entrants. Additionally, certificates will be awarded to three commended poems and three poems with the best line in each age category.
The closing date for entries is midnight on Monday 30 June and the poems will be judged by Damian Kelly-Basher Hampshire Poet 2024-26.
As well as entering online and by post, young poets can submit their poems via a special poetry-writing desk upstairs at competition sponsor P&G Wells bookshop in Winchester.
P&G Wells is believed to be the oldest surviving bookshop in the country having traded from College Street in Winchester since 1729.
Managing Director Stephen Scholey commented “The Austen family held an account at the bookshop and Jane wrote in letters to her sister Cassandra about books from then-owner John Burdon. Jane wrote ‘Love and Freindship’ as a teenager. Does her alternative spelling of this year’s competition theme matter? We think not, and would encourage any aspiring Janes (or Johns) to get writing regardless.”
The winners in each age category will be contacted by email or post and officially announced at an awards ceremony at Winchester Poetry Festival 2025 to be held The Arc, Winchester, on Saturday 11 October 2025.
Find out more about the competition, including the guidelines and how to enter HERE
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