Our poetry competition is in full swing – open to all schools in North Norfolk. We want to hear what our local children have to say about the landscape and wildlife which surround them in this rural coastal strip.

Here is our invitation:

The competition started when our festival was called Poetry-next-the-sea back in the 1990s and has run for a long time, kindly administrated by volunteers like Tim Fisher (who is running our nature workshops this year for schools and the general public). This year we are very excited to be able to announce that global superstar of nature writing and Cambridge professor of English, Robert Macfarlane will be judging the poems.

But there isn’t long to go. Entries must be in by the final minute of 27th September.

Our theme this year is ‘the voices of a river’ – inspired by Alice Oswald’s poetry and in particular her poem Dart – a poem in one whole book which follows a river in Devon from its source on the moors to its mouth, with the river speaking as it moves and changes through its course, using its own voice and the voices of people who live and work in or beside it.

You’ll find our rules here, photos, a summary and some inspiring river images here and a whole page of river poems here to read and think about.

We are all looking forward to reading your poetry.