Search for budding bards as Co-op puts poetry competition in motion

Rochdale searches for budding bards as Co-op puts poetry competition in motion

The search is on for budding bards in Rochdale as the Co-op Local Forum launches its annual arts competition to showcase creative talent in the community.

This year sees the poetry competition extended to under 16 year-olds for the first time.

Supported by the Co-op’s Cutgate shopping centre food store, the move is designed to encourage more young people locally to engage with the arts and to highlight their writing skills.

Free to enter, this year’s theme is 'boundaries' and entries for the poetry competition need to be submitted by 30 September. All works will be judged by local poets Seamus Kelly and Gaia Holmes along with artist Shahida Dolan.

Prizes for the two categories – those aged under 16 and those aged 16 and over at the time of the competition deadline - include £50 of Co-op vouchers and, the winning poems will also be read at this year’s Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival.

The competition has been launched by Eileen Earnshaw, 72, who is Chairwoman of the Co-op Local Forum in Rochdale and a student of creative writing styles at Bolton University who also holds fortnightly writing workshops and discussions at the Heywood Library.