Judges announced for CLiPPA 2021!

We are delighted to announce the judges for our annual children's Poetry Award the CLiPPA, which is the UK’s only annual award for published poetry for children.

This year's judges are:

Allie Esiri, whose poetry anthologies include A Poem for Every Day of the Year, will chair the CLiPPA 2021 judging panel. 

Zaro Weil, who won the 2020 CLiPPA with her collection Cherry Moon.

Julie Blake, co-founder and Director of Poetry By Heart.

Amina Jama, a Somali-British writer who is an alumni of Barbican Young Poets, co-host of BoxedIN and member of Octavia WOC Collective. 

Charlotte Hacking, Central Learning Programmes Leader at CLPE.

With poetry publishing for children booming, this year the judges have 28 collections to consider.

The shortlist will be announced at The Globe on Monday 19 July, part of the special celebrations for the winners of the national Poetry By Heart competition.

Shadowing Registration
Schools can now register their interest in taking part in this year's CLiPPA shadowing scheme. The annual shadowing scheme allows schools to explore the poetry on the shortlist, prompts poetry performances in classrooms across the UK.

Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive of the CLPE, said: ‘The CLiPPA goes from strength to strength. An audience of 4,000 tuned in to watch the announcement of the winner last year in the CLiPPA Poetry Show broadcast live from The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and we know that this year’s announcement will generate even more interest. We are excited to open the CLiPPA 2021 with the announcement of the judges and delighted again to have a panel with so much expertise.”

The CLiPPA is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Arts Council England.