Hello me lovers!
This blog is where we're going to be sharing our rules and how to enter, where we're going to post our news and our results, and where we're generally going to interact with our lovely poets (as well as through our social media pages, of course). We'll regularly be sharing poetry prompts, our favourite poems/poets and maybe (if you're lucky) the occasional cute animal picture! So if you're reading this and you love poetry and think you'd like to enter the competition, you're in a very good place.
My legendary poet friend Anna-May and I are so excited to be making this competition a reality. For a couple of years now, we've wanted to set up a single poem competition for young people in memory of Anna-May's daughter Magdalena, or Maggie as she was often known. Maggie loved art, music and writing, so we thought this would be a great way to remember her. Now we've been given our perfect opportunity. I'm a third-year Creative Writing student at Bath Spa Uni, and I'm taking a Creative Enterprise module, where I get to interact with the wider creative community. I had no problem in deciding how I wanted to play this - I got in touch with Anna-May straightaway, and we agreed, 'Let's do this!' So here we are.
2020 has been a tough year for all of us. We all know that not a lot of thought has been given to the arts, or to young people's mental health. Both of these things are so important to our mission, as Maggie took her own life at the age of 21 several years ago. We hope that The Magdalena Prize will boost the self-esteem of you all as young writers, as well as giving you a creative outlet. Anna-May and I have both experienced how poetry can heal, and we all need something healing right now. This generation is struggling, and we want to hear your voices. You are all the poets of the future. It's crucial that the world hears what you've got to say.
We'll be opening the competition and sharing how to enter over the next few weeks, as well as revealing who our amazing judge is. So keep your eyes peeled (excuse the slightly gross cliché!) and all will become clear.
Much love, and happy writing to you all,
Olivia
