Blending football and poetry with the Premier League
The Premier League launch a new writing competition as part of their commitment to the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge.
The Premier League is one of the signatories for the 2017 Vision for Literacy Business Pledge. Leading businesses have committed to helping raise literacy levels in the UK by taking clear action in three areas: within their workforce, in their local communities and at national level.
As part of its commitment to the pledge, the Premier League has recently launched Premier League Writing Stars, a new writing competition for children aged 5–11, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust. The competition is open to all primary schools in England and Wales and aims to get young people writing poetry in different creative forms.
Inspired by the William Hickson poem ‘Try, Try Again’, which is recited by footballers in the recent Premier League Primary Stars advertising campaign, the competition asks school children to write around the theme of resilience; what does it mean to you to try and try again? Entries can be any form of poetic writing including a rap or lyrics.
The all-star judging panel includes former professional footballer and children’s author Frank Lampard; Charlie and Lola author-illustrator and Waterstones Children’s Laureate Lauren Child; Premier League star and lyricist Yannick Bolasie and Young People’s Laureate for London Caleb Femi. All judging will be overseen by the Director of the National Literacy Trust, Jonathan Douglas.
Entries will be considered against a range of criteria including creativity, tone and originality, with the winning poems being published in a limited-edition book. Other prizes include author-led writing workshops and Premier League trophy school visits, as well as winning poems being read aloud by football stars.
The campaign is part of the Premier League Primary Stars education programme, which has already engaged more than 10,000 primary schools and 13,000 teachers in England and Wales.
Premier League Executive Chairman Richard Scudamore said:
“Premier League Primary Stars has already proved to be a success thanks to the great work our clubs are carrying out in their communities and the breadth of resources the programme makes available to primary school teachers. We have already achieved our initial target of engaging 10,000 schools and the programme keeps evolving. Premier League Writing Stars is backed by established authors and poets as well as footballers and our aim is to enthuse children, teachers and parents alike.”
Find out more about the Premier League Writing Stars competition and about the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge.
