Poetry Book Society

Posted: 9 October 2012

"The Shadowing Scheme is a wonderfully innovative way for students to engage with the freshest new poetry, to be the best readers who select the best poetry, and to tell us how and why."

Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate and Chair of 2012 T S Eliot Prize judges


The T S Eliot Prize, set up in memory of one of our greatest poets, will continue to reflect Eliot's commitment to encouraging young people to read and enjoy poetry. Aimed at 14-17 year olds, it will run in conjunction with the 2012 T S Eliot Prize, and will enable students to shadow the judging panel as they deliberate on the shortlist. Students will be able to read the work of the shortlisted poets and to decide on their own choice of winner.

Run in partnership with the English and Media Centre, the Shadowing Scheme will be featured in emagazine, the Centre's subscription magazine for A Level English students. Teachers will be invited to participate in the scheme by encouraging their classes to read a selection from the ten collections on the shortlist and to vote for their favourite.

This year's T S Eliot Prize judging panel is chaired by Carol Ann Duffy and the other two judges are poets Michael Longley and David Morley. The ten-strong shortlist will be announced on 23rd October and the winner will be announced at the award ceremony on 14th January 2012.

The Shadowing Scheme

Two poems from each of the shortlisted collections will be available on the PBS website from the 25th October. Copies of the shortlisted titles can also be ordered through the website.

The Shadowing Scheme is intended to encourage teachers and students to read poetry which is not on the National Curriculum or set text lists, but which represents new work from the year's best poetry collections.

Students will be asked to take part in a poll on the English and Media Centre's website, www.englishandmedia.co.uk, to vote for their choice of winner.

Competition for A Level students

There will also be a competition for individual A Level students, to find the best 500 word rationale for their choice of poet. The winning student will receive:

tickets to the T S Eliot Prize Readings and the award ceremony in January, and accommodation as appropriate signed copies of the winning book and the student's choice of winning book the opportunity to meet the T S Eliot prize-winnera year's subscription to emagazine a year's PBS membership.

The winning rationale will be published in the February issue of emagazine.

"Writing my rationale at first seemed an unusual off-curriculum homework, but it turned into the initial step of an incredible poetry experience which I feel extremely lucky to have had. The Award Ceremony was a glamorous and exciting event where I felt honoured to be rubbing shoulders with such world class poets. Hearing all the shortlisted poets reading was a fantastic experience, and receiving each signed collection means that I will remember them for the rest of my life."

Liam O'Brien, Winner of the student writing competition in 2011.

The Shadowing Scheme starts on 25 October with poems from each of the shortlisted collections available to download from www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/15. The closing date for both the student poll and the writing competition is 18 December.

The Prize is generously supported by the T S Eliot Estate.

This year marks the second year of generous three-year support from Aurum, a private investment management firm which manages funds for charities, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and private individuals, and which supports a range of charities.

Categories: Poetry Prizes

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