CLiPPA 2024 – Shortlist Announced!
8 May, 2024The shortlist for this year’s CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) was announced today, Wednesday 8th May, at a live, online event that was watched by thousands of school children from across the UK.
The CLiPPA is the UK’s leading award for published poetry for children and young people. It was set up 21 years ago to highlight the best contemporary poetry for children and to ensure that poetry has a recognised place within children’s literature. Previous winners include John Agard, Valerie Bloom, current Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Michael Rosen.
From a record number of entries, a panel of judges made up of poets, teachers and literacy experts selected a rich and varied list that can be enjoyed with children from KS1 to KS3.
Commenting on this year’s shortlist, award-winning poet and chair of judges Liz Berry said: “We’re so excited to share this year’s CLiPPA shortlist with the world: five brilliant and very different books to enchant and transport young readers, listeners and dreamers. Each book on the shortlist is unique and offers something special: there are poems full of feeling, poems to make us laugh and dance, poems to help us see into the hearts and lives of others and feel changed. It’s wonderful to see poetry for children flourishing and to discover such diverse and inspiring voices at work. Here, children are equals and collaborators in the poetry magic-making, invited to keep poems as friends for the rest of their lives.”
Alongside the award, CLPE runs a Shadowing Scheme that provides free teaching resources to help teachers explore the shortlisted collections with their pupils. Participating schools can also submit videos of their pupils performing a chosen poem to the Shadowing Scheme competition. Find out about the many benefits of taking part in Shadowing in our blog by Year 6 teacher Imogen Maund.
Congratulations to all the shortlisted poets!
The 2024 CLiPPA shortlist:
A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon (Otter-Barry Books). The judges loved the way the poet invites children to participate and the ‘performability’ of this collection.
My Heart is a Poem is an anthology of contemporary classics and brand-new poems that explores the world of feelings (Little Tiger Press). The judges described it as a ‘pick and mix full of treasures.’
Balam and Lluvia’s House by Julio Serrano Echeverría, illustrated by Yolanda Mosquera and translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel (The Emma Press). The judges found this window into a different culture fresh and distinctive. It brought to mind Shirley Hughes’ classic Lucy and Tom series in the warm way it presents the child’s eye view of the world.
And I Climbed And I Climbed by Stephen Lightbown, illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin (Troika Books). This debut collection draws on the poet’s own experience as a wheelchair user after an accident left him paralysed. The judges found it emotionally intense, an authentic representation of children who are not heard and a clear expression of difficult feelings: ‘there’s lots that’s interesting and beautiful, and I haven’t read anything like it before.’
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books). The judges found this verse novel moving and thought-provoking and loved the way it ‘captures the voice of the classroom’.
The winner of the CLiPPA 2024 will be revealed at a special award ceremony at the National Theatre on 12th July where the young winners of the Shadowing Scheme competition will have the opportunity to perform alongside all the shortlisted poets.
For more children’s book awards, click here.
