The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an annual prize for an unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11.
Every year since 2015, The Caterpillar Poetry Prize has been awarded to a single poem by a single judge – among them John Hegley, Chrissie Gittins and Roger McGough. Previous winners include Louise Greig, Coral Rumble, Laura Mucha and (last year) Fergal McNally.
‘I am a huge fan of The Caterpillar and was delighted and inspired by the competition.’ Louise Greig
‘The Caterpillar is such a unique and inspired magazine. Winning The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is all shades of wonderful!’ Coral Rumble
‘I think The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an important award, particularly as there are so few outlets for children’s poets, and it’s a huge honour to have won it.’ Laura Mucha
‘I think The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an important award, particularly as there are so few outlets for children’s poets, and it’s a huge honour to have won it.’ Laura Mucha
‘Like all of us, I spend more of my life than I’d like to reading emails. Recently I opened one from The Caterpillar. Now all I want to do is write something that could make a reader feel half as happy as reading that email made me.’ Fergal McNally
The prize is €1,000 plus publication in the summer issue of The Caterpillar. This year’s judge is none other than Michael Morpurgo!
Michael Morpurgo has written over 130 books for children, but is probably best known for his novel War Horse, which was made into a film by Steven Spielberg. He was Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005. The charity Farms for City Children, which he founded thirty years ago with his wife Clare, has now enabled over 90,000 children to spend a week living and working down on the farm. He was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.
The Prize is open to anyone (over 16), as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.
The poems can be on any subject.
**If you are concerned about formatting online, please go through the online process and then email your poem as a Word attachment with your entry number directly to [email protected].**
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Awards:- The prize is €1,000 plus publication in the summer issue of The Caterpillar.
Deadline:- 31-03-2021
Entry fees:- The entry fee is €14 per poem. You can ENTER ONLINE or send your poem(s) along with a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘The Moth Magazine Ltd.’ with an ENTRY FORM or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of your poem(s) attached to: The Caterpillar, Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland H14 K768.
