Foyle Young Poets

ly Hopkins, Richard Osmond and Martha Sprackland. With entries from over 6,000 young people this year across from the UK and worldwide, it is the largest competition of its kind and its importance is widely attested. The competition launches in the spring and the deadline is 31 July every year. Each year 100 winners (85 commended poets and 15 overall winners) are selected by a team of high profile judges, and will receive their awards at an annual prize-giving event in October. Thanks to funding from the Foyle Foundation the competition remains completely free to enter and we are able to offer a wide range of prizes, opportunities and resources. The top 15 winners have their poems published in the annual printed Foyle Young Poets anthology, which is distributed to poets, teachers, students, libraries, schools and arts organisations right across the UK. Commended poets have their poems published in an online anthology, which is read by tens of thousands of people around the world. Top 15 winners also attend a week-long intensive residential Arvon course where they develop their creative writing skills alongside fellow poets, or can choose to benefit from poetry residencies at their school or distance one-to-one mentoring. These winners are among the most promising young literary talent in the UK, and the ceremony is the first step in an ongoing process of developing this potential; many of our former winners have gone on to publish work with major publishing houses such as Faber & Faber and Carcanet, and we support them through a number of initiatives helping them to establish themselves in the literary and publishing world. We have showcased winners across the UK, at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Cheltenham Literature Festival, BBC News, BBC's One Show, Radio 4, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company, StAnza, the Guardian, Independent and many more besides!