Oxfordshire Science Festival Schools Poetry competition 2017
Monday 15th May 2017
From texting to celebrity tweeting, amusing memes or hashtag-ing lunch, the world around us has never been so obsessively observed and widely shared via technology – text is trending!
Both science and poetry, in their own unique ways, help us to make sense of our environment, and now a new science inspired poetry competition for schools is enabling children in Oxfordshire to express their own views in their own words, organised by the Oxfordshire Science Festival.
Children to the age of 16 can submit a poem of up to 150 words in any style, inspired by science; perhaps a scientific discovery, a famous scientist or an experiment, a science lesson or the wonders of the natural world. It could be a haiku, a rap, an acrostic poem, a cosmic limerick or an enzyme rhyme!
The winning poems will be performed at a Festival event on Saturday 17 June, and will be published online. The class of the winning poet will get to visit the Diamond Light Source science facility at Harwell and their school will win a hamper of scientific goodies or a half-day educational science session delivered in-school by Science Oxford.
Who can enter!
The competition is open to all primary and secondary schools in Oxfordshire, and will be judged in four age categories:
- 7 years and under
- 8-11 years old
- 12-14 years old
- 14-16 years old
How to enter!
Simply write your poem on the official entry form and send it by e-mail to [email protected] or by post to Oxfordshire Science Festival, Oxford Centre for Innovation, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1BY to arrive by Friday 19 May 2017.
Visit the OSF website to download the forms and information.
Three expert Judges will choose the winning entries – Niall Munro is Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Director of the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, Kelley Swain was poet-in-residence at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in 2016, and Claire Hamnett is a physics teacher and leader of the Oxfordshire Science Learning Partnership.
Science Oxford is proud to support the Oxfordshire Science Festival.
oxfordshiresciencefestival.com
