Royal Liver Group

Run by Royal Liver and Liverpool City Council’s Raising Achievement Services team, the Poetry of Place competition is open to secondary schools in the city.

Poetry of Place began in 2002, aiming to raise levels of literacy in Liverpool by engaging young people and fostering their interest in creative writing.

“It has definitely achieved its aim of engaging the city’s young people,” said Steve Burnett, Chief Executive of Royal Liver.

“During the first five years of the competition, levels of literacy in Liverpool’s schools increased steadily, with English results for Key Stage 3 – the age group of our young poets – getting better year on year.

“Poetry of Place alone can’t claim credit for this but combined with the other fantastic initiatives run by the Raising Achievement Services team and with the support of parents and teachers, I believe it has made a real difference.”

Entrants, aged 11 to 14-years old, write poems during the summer about their favourite Liverpool places and the public chooses the winners by voting via the Royal Liver website.

The Poetry of Place awards ceremony will take place in October in the RoyalLiverBuilding, to coincide with National Poetry Day on October 4.

Steve said: “By giving pupils the chance to write poems about their favourite local places we hope to inspire them to develop their writing skills while at the same time expressing pride in their city.”

Since it was introduced, Poetry of Place has received more than 7,000 entries from every secondary school in the city and the competition has become a fixture in the lives of English teachers and pupils throughout Liverpool’s schools.

With its Royal Liver Building HQ being one of Liverpool’s best known landmarks, Royal Liver Assurance – and its world famous Liver Birds – is often the subject of poems entered in the competition. Indeed, five of the finalists in last year’s competition worked the Liver Birds into their poems.

Steve said: “This shows that we are still considered to be a part of Liverpool’s heritage and that makes me and everybody who works at Royal Liver Assurance very proud.”

Mary Kelso from Liverpool City Council’s Raising Achievement Services team, said: “It’s extremely encouraging to see that this competition is having an impact upon literacy in the region’s schools.

“Enthusiasm for Poetry of Place grows each year as does the quality of poems submitted. We are very grateful for Royal Liver for the support they provide. We hope Poetry of Place continues inspiring young people in Liverpool.”

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For more information please contact Richard Edwards at Royal Liver Group on +44 (0)151 600 4268.