Premier League Writing Stars Poetry Competition
Our recent poetry competition centred on the theme of diversity is now closed. Winners will be announced in March 2019.
Our recent poetry competition centred on the theme of diversity is now closed. Winners will be announced in March 2019.
Welcome to the Premier League Writing Stars competition 2018
This year's competition is now closed. Thank you to all those who entered. We thoroughly enjoyed reading every poem!
We are pleased to announce that the regional and national winners are as follows:
Class 1, Deeping St James C.P. School, East of England, KS1
Evie, Ipswich High School, East of England, KS2
Charlie, St Thomas Catholic Voluntary Academy, East Midlands, KS1
Trafford, Barwell Church of England Academy, East Midlands, KS2
Adam, Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, London, KS1
Ava, Thomas's Clapham, London, KS2
Class, Harton Primary School, North East, KS1
Ella, Hunwick Primary School, North East, KS2
Nabila, Lary, Jacob, Amy, Benyamin, Thomas, Khadija, St Finbar's Catholic Primary School, North West, KS1 - national winner
Ethan, Overton St Helen's Church of England Primary School, North West, KS2
Ava, Springfield Infant School and Nursery, South East, KS1
Ben, Parkside School, South East, KS2
Zach, Yealmpstone Farm Primary School, South West, KS1
Emily, Ramsbury Primary School, South West, KS2
Katie, Shirenewton Primary School, Wales, KS1
Sam, Fairfield, Wales, KS2
Cara, Ysgol Y Berllan Deg, Welsh language, KS2
Issac, Outwoods Primary School, West Midlands, KS1
Maariya, Heathfield Primary School, West Midlands, KS2 - national winner
Macie, All Saints CE Federation, Yorkshire & The Humber, KS1
Kitty, Otley All Saints CE Primary, Yorkshire and the Humber, KS2
The judges also selected a number of highly commended entries:
Cassie, Eben, Lily, Noah, Olivia, Sadie, Rhys, Raunds Park Infant School, East Midlands, KS1
Cohen, Hollygirt School, East Midlands, KS1
Henri, Westfield School, East of England, KS1
Olivia, Edward Francis Primary School, East of England, KS2
Minudi, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, London, KS1
Leelou, North Harringay Primary School, London, KS2
Iman, Hounslow Town Primary School, London, KS2
Kamilah, Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, London, KS2
Layla, Green Gates Primary School, North East, KS1
Thomas & Seb, St Oswald’s Catholic Primary School, North West, KS2
Sophia, Stockton Heath Primary School, North West, KS1
Lucas, Park Primary School, North West, KS2
Jack, Long Close School, South East, KS1
Kasper, Holy Trinity CE (A) School, South East, KS2
Chloe, Watermore Primary School, South West, KS1
Amelia, St Leonard's CE Primary School, West Midlands, KS2
Thomas, Dore Primary School, Yorkshire and the Humber, KS2
Amelia, Upperwood Academy, Yorkshire and the Humber, KS2
This year we wanted your pupils to write poems based on the theme of diversity, using inspiration from the poem written specially for Premier League Writing Stars, Beautifully different, Wonderfully the same by Joseph Coelho. The poem and subject encourage us to think of ways to celebrate similarities and differences that bring us together, and these are themes that ran through this programme.
Key information
Download a copy of the poster here.
Download a Welsh language copy of the poster here.
The judging panel includes former Premier League footballer Rio Ferdinand, singer and songwriter Olly Murs, Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate Lauren Child, poet Joseph Coelho. Casia Wiliam, current Bardd Plant Cymru (Welsh-language Children’s Poet Laureate) will guest judge all Welsh-language entries. All judging will be overseen by National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas.
Watch the video below to hear the poem read aloud by an all-star cast!
Prizes
There will be a top overall prize and 10 prizes for each category (Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) in each area. There will also be prizes for the best entries in the Welsh language at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Prizes for overall winners:
Prizes for regional and Welsh winners and overall winners:
There are also some brilliant bags full to the brim with poetry books for the first 1000 schools who submitted entries!
Judging criteria
The judges will be looking for the following:
We will judge poems on their creative merits. Primary age children develop their skills in writing, spelling and punctuation as they go through school and poems will not be disqualified for errors in handwriting, spelling or punctuation. However, we would encourage all entrants to proof read their poem carefully and send us their best copy.
Supporting resources and activity ideas
We created some competition packs developed in partnership with the National Literacy Trust with just the right amount of useful resources, including lesson ideas, poem entry activity sheets, and inspirational videos.
Download what you need and get your pupils writing! You need to register to access all the resources - it's free and really quick to do.
Welsh language versions of these packs are also available below:
You might also be interested in our other English poetry packs – have a look at our Key Stage 1 resource Matchday Magic and our Premier League Reading Stars resource, Poetry Slam, for pupils in upper Key Stage 2. There is also a Key Stage 2 PSHE pack all about Diversity.
Full terms and conditions are available.
This competition is now closed.