Toronto/CMEDIA: The City of Toronto has launched Apr 24 its first Children’s Spring Poetry Contest, inviting poets aged six to 14 to participate.
“Spring in Toronto can bring such wonderful memories for children…contest is an opportunity for kids to get creative and explore what parks in spring mean to them!,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has said.
Children are encouraged to explore topics such as nature, splash pads or their favourite memory at a local park and submit poems online in any style.
The selection of the winning poems in each age category — six to eight, nine to 11 and 12 to 14 years of age — would be done by Lillian Allen, Toronto’s Poet Laureate
“Young people writing poetry is a beautiful, gentle and powerful way for them to reflect and think about the beautiful gifts of spring…be creators!… spring gives us hope! And hope springs eternal!,” Lillian Allen has said.
As part of the City’s work to create vibrant communities, the contest serves to encourage children to consider what value that parks and nature spaces represent to them, their family and community.
Submission criteria:
- Poems must be written by a child between the ages six and 14 years old.
- Poems should be no longer than 300 words long and must include a title
- Poems should be original and from the heart
- This contest is open to residents of Toronto with postal codes starting with “M”
- The deadline to submit a poem is noon on Monday, May 5.
