Bromsgrove bards vying to be poet laureate

Buy photos » 2011 laureate Laura Dedicoat, who has established herself as one of the region's best young poets, will be handing over the reigns.

THREE young Bromsgrove bards and one from Droitwich are among the 15 short-listed finalists who will be competing on Friday (January 27) to become this year's Worcestershire Young Poet Laureate.

The 2011 winner Laura Dedicoat, who is from Wythall, will be handing over the reigns after a year which has seen her establish herself as one of the region's best young poets.

Tonight, it is the turn of Jess Dewney, 17, Zoe Jones, 15 and Georgia Chambers, 14, from Bromsgrove, and Tierney Holloway, 14, from Droitwich, who will battle it out against 11 others from around the county at Number 8 Theatre, Pershore.

They have been selected after writing one poem on the subject of 'games' and another on a topic of their choice.

The finallists will be performing their poetry in front of a live audience and a panel of judges, made up of Ruth Foster, Steve Wilson and Julie Andrews from Worcestershire County Council. They will be supported by professional poet Matt Windle, who will be on the look-out for the person with the most unique poetry talent who will embrace the laureate role and promote poetry throughout the county.

More than 50 entries were received for the contest and one of the competition organisers, Natalie McVey, described the short-listing process as 'very tough'.

"We've received a fantastic range of entries to our Word Up competition - all sorts of styles, themes and topics have been explored by our county's budding poets.

"It has been a joy to read and judge them all, but was very tough to get them down to just 15."

She added it was a great way to encourage young people to write poetry and that it was shaping up to be a wonderful final.

The new Worcestershire's Young Poet Laureate 2012 will receive a trophy and be commissioned to write and perform poetry across the county.

They, working under the guise of their own poetry mentor who will support them, will also write pieces for special Worcestershire events and encourage others to pick up their pens.

Tonight's Word Up event starts at 7.30pm at Number 8 Theatre and tickets are £5 each.

For more, call Natalie on 07876 144905, Steve on 01905 765754 or visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/wordup