Thomas Gray Anniversary – Poetry Competition
Theme: “In response to Gray’s Elegy
In the run-up to the tercentenary of Gray’s birth in 2016, The Stoke Poges Society is organising the second of three annual poetry competitions. There is an Open Class, and a School Class open to anyone in full-time school education on the date of submission. The closing date is 19th June 2015.
Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, reputed to have been written in St Giles’ Churchyard, Stoke Poges, was first published in 1751 and immediately recognised as a classic of English literature. Verses from the Elegy are inscribed on the sides of Gray’s Monument which was erected by John Penn in 1799 and now belongs to the National Trust.
Judges
For the 2015 competition, the entries to the Open Class will be judged by the poet Carol Rumens who is currently Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Bangor University, Gwynedd. She contributes regularly to Poetry Review and The Yellow Nib as well as writing a popular weekly blog for The Guardian Books Online “Poem of the Week” series:
www.carolrumens.co.uk. Her forthcoming poetry collection provisionally entitled “Animal People” will be published by Seren in 2016.
The School Class open to students in full-time education, will be judged by Roger Askew, formerly an English teacher and now a lecturer and Chairman of The Stoke Poges Society.
Cash prizes totalling £750 will be divided among the winning entrants.
Entries can be made online via our website and full details are available there along with last year’s winning entries:
http://thomasgray2016.org/poetry-competition/
Thomas Gray Poetry Competition
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