Poetry fundraising competition to capture the pandemic in support of NHS
Reporter: Ken Bennett
Date published: 05 May 2020
The “Beyond the Storm” competition is in support of NHS Charities Together COVID-19.
An Oldham born poet is spearheading a unique competition backed by celebrities from BBCs top TV drama, Casuality.
Julian Jordon who heads up the Write Out Loud website, launched “Beyond the Storm” in support of NHS Charities Together COVID-19.
He has linked with the award winning Manchester poet Andrew McMillan who will judge the competition winners alongside a public vote for a special ‘People’s Choice’ award.
Entries for the competition open on Thursday (May 7) and close Thursday, June 19, with winners announced on Wednesday, August 8.
Says Andrew: “I want this to bring in serious, considered poetry, but also to have a broader, public appeal, to boost donations at this most critical time in NHS history.
“We need your help, we need you to send in your poems, written about the time we are living in right now and what the future holds, and what the outcome might be.”
His debut collection Physical was the first poetry collection to win The Guardian First Book Award.
And he has waived his judging fee making it the first donation towards Write Out Loud’s target fund of £10,000.
Kirsty Mitchell who plays Faith Cadogan in the BBC series, said: “We need you to make a donation, it is going through the toughest time it has ever seen.”
Write Out Loud founder, Julian said: “The competition hopes to produce an anthology – the winners and other top entries, to act as a valuable poetic record of what must be the strangest period in all of our lives and record our hopes for a better future, beyond the storm.”
Write Out Loud, established in 2003, encourages open-mic poetry and more traditional events via its poetry gig guide, the UK’s only comprehensive poetry event listings.
It has the UK’s only regular poetry journalism, a huge online community of poets, and organises regular competitions for itself and on behalf of festival organisers.
Just Giving Donation page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wolbeyondthestorm
Competition page: https://www.writeoutloud.net/beyondthestorm
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