Young poets sought as Latitude Festival turns 20

Young poets are being sought from across the East of England to officially open the 20th Latitude Festival in July.

The competition, run by the BBC and Latitude, is open to seven to 11-year-olds who live or go to school in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire.

Judges will choose six finalists, on from each BBC local radio area, who will get to read their work on the floating Waterfront Stage at Henham Park.

Festival director and founder Melvin Benn said: "Twenty years of Latitude is a cause for celebration and I hope the theme of generations inspires poems that surprise us, move us, and remind us why young voices matter."

Since its debut in 2006, Latitude has celebrated language and literature as well as live music and was the first festival in the UK to give poetry its own dedicated stage.

Among those who have performed there have been Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jackie Kay, and Kae Tempest.

Judge and East Anglian poet Luke Wright curated Latitude's poetry stage from the very first edition in 2006.

Reflecting on this year's competition theme of generations, he said: "In my latest project, Later Life Letters, I found myself circling around questions of inheritance — what we're given, what we carry, and what we choose to pass on.

"The lives that shape us, the ones we step into, and the love that somehow threads through it all.

"Poetry's one of the best ways we have of exploring those connections. It lets us hold a moment still: a grandparent and grandchild talking across a kitchen table, a family ritual handed down, a child trying to make sense of the world their parents have given them.

"And don't be afraid of the harder stuff either. Families aren't tidy things. They're complicated, messy, full of difficult moments as well as beautiful ones. That's part of the inheritance too.

"The poems I'm hoping to read are the ones that feel lived-in and honest — something that rings true."

The entries will also be judged by Latitude arts curator Kirsty Taylor, and BBC Radio presenters Babs Michell and Rob Jelly.

Jelly said: "I love being creative and having a front row seat every week on BBC Upload to creatives from across the East of England is such a privilege.

"To work with Latitude Festival for its 20th edition and give the next generation of poets the chance of a lifetime, opening the festival, will be a memory I cherish for a long time.

"I have a feeling the challenge of judging will be a tough one, but feeling and creativity go hand-in-hand, so I'm looking forward to it."

This is the third year the competition has run.

Last year, winner Myles and runners up Eleanor and Zara performed pieces about friendship.

The 2024 winner was Anna, who also had her Latitude experience documented by Newsround.

This is a competition for seven to11-year-olds to write an original poem of up to 200 words on the theme of generations.

It is being run across Radio Suffolk, BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, BBC Essex, BBC Radio Northampton and BBC Three Counties Radio, with one finalist to be chosen from each station area.

They will get a family ticket to the festival and the chance to read their work on the Waterfront Stage.

One of the six will also be chosen as the overall winner, who will get an exclusive backstage tour.

Poems can be submitted here, where there are full terms and privacy notice, as well as the opportunity to upload a recording of a reading which could get played on BBC Radio.

Entries close at midday on Friday 24 April.

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