To mark National Poetry Day, a new poetry competition is being launched in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Newcastle-under-Lyme BID has teamed up with local spoken word night WordCraft to create the competition, which hopes to celebrate creativity and encourage people of all ages to put pen to paper.

The competition will be launched on National Poetry Day (Thursday 1 October) and will take inspiration from this year's national theme 'Wonder', inviting people to submit an original poem inspired by what the word means to them.

Entries will be open throughout October across three age categories - under 11s, 11–17, and 18 and over - with a £50 prize available for the winner of each category.

Emily Galvin-Wilson, former Staffordshire Poet Laureate and co-founder of WordCraft, said: "Through my time as Staffordshire Poet Laureate, and through the work we've done with WordCraft, I've been constantly awed and delighted by the power that poetry has to bring communities together, and to reach people in new and unexpected ways.

"We have such a wealth of creativity and talent across this County, and I can't wait to see what people come up with in response to the National Poetry Day prompt.

"It's such an exciting premise, and fantastic to see poetry being so celebrated across the town."

A shortlist of poems will be created before being considered by a judging panel featuring local poets and creatives, including Emily Galvin-Wilson, ArtsKeele and Newcastle-under-Lyme BID.

Selected poems will be then transformed into specially designed 'Poetry Pick Ups'.

These will be created in collaboration with a local artist and made available for people to take away from locations across Newcastle-under-Lyme and Keele University.

The winning work will also be showcased in the town centre, with plans for poetry from the competition to form part of future art installations and public realm works.

Charl Pearce, Newcastle-under-Lyme BID Manager, said: "Poetry has this brilliant ability to capture a place, feeling or idea and make somebody else stop and see it differently.

"We've seen that through our work with local poet Nick Degg and Down Castle and National Poetry Day felt like the perfect opportunity to celebrate even more voices.

"You don't need to consider yourself a poet to enter. We'd love to see people of all ages having a go, particularly children and young people, and perhaps discover some of Newcastle's next generation of writers along the way.

"We're also really pleased to be working with Emily and WordCraft to create more opportunities for spoken word in Newcastle, including plans for a dedicated WordCraft stage at Lymelight 2027."

Newcastle-under-Lyme BID and WordCraft also developing a dedicated spoken word programme as part of next year's Lymelight Festival.

The project also builds on Newcastle-under-Lyme BID's previous work to bring art and performance into town centre spaces.

NUL BID previously commissioned local poet Nick Degg to create Down Castle, a poem celebrating Newcastle-under-Lyme which was later incorporated into public artwork in the town centre.

The next WordCraft event will take place at The Crossways in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Tuesday 29 September, just ahead of National Poetry Day.

Entries for the poetry competition open on Thursday 1 October and close on Saturday 31 October 2026.

Further details on how to enter and competition terms will be available on the Newcastle-under-Lyme BID social media pages.