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Poetry of Place Competition 2007

Hundreds of pupils from across the city have entered the Royal Liver Group Poetry of Place competition, now in its sixth year. ..

Award-winning Liverpool financial services company Royal Liver Group has announced the shortlist for this year’s Poetry of Place competition.

Hundreds of pupils from across the city have entered the Royal Liver Group Poetry of Place competition, now in its sixth year. Run by Royal Liver and Liverpool City Council’s Raising Achievement Team, it is open to every secondary school in the city and sees entrants write about their favourite Liverpool places.

The finalists have been picked from the hundreds of budding poets that entered and their efforts have been posted on the Royal Liver website. Now it is down to members of the public to cast their votes and pick a winner.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Royal Liver Building on November 9, with Royal Liver Group Chief Executive, Steve Burnett, presenting prizes to winners.

Steve said: “Poetry of Place began with the aim of raising levels of literacy in Liverpool by engaging with young people and fostering their interest in creative writing. By giving pupils the chance to write poems about their favourite local places we hope to inspire them to develop their writing skills while expressing the pride they have in their city.”

Since it was launched in 2002, the Royal Liver Group Poetry of Place competition has received more than 7,500 entries and the competition has become a fixture in the lives of English teachers and pupils in Liverpool’s schools.

“I am delighted to say that Poetry of Place has again been an overwhelming success,” said Steve. Since it’s been running, every secondary school in Liverpool has entered the competition and it has played a key part in our award winning Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.

“It has also achieved its aim of engaging the city’s young people. In fact, during the first five years that the ran, levels of literacy in Liverpool’s schools went up, with English results for Key Stage 3 – the age group of our young poets – getting better year on year.“

“Poetry of Place alone can’t claim credit for this but combined with the other fantastic initiatives run by the Raising Achievement Team, and with the support of parents and teachers, I believe that it has made a real difference.”

Mary Kelso from the Raising Achievement Team said: “It is extremely encouraging to see that this competition is having an impact upon literacy in the city’s schools. Enthusiasm for Poetry of Place grows each year as does the quality of poems submitted. We hope the competition continues inspiring young people in Liverpool.”

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For more information please contact Richard Edwards at Royal Liver Group on +44 (0)151 600 4268.