SLANZA School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Te Puna Whare Maatauranga a Kura
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 The Poets XYZ Competition: Celebrating Poetry Written for Children


SLANZA is delighted to be collaborating with The Poets XYZ offering this online space to host their annual poetry competition.

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Big Things little things: Poetry for Children Competition Details

In the lead-up to Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2025, the Poets XYZ are running a nationwide competition for adults who write poetry for children.

Timeline: open now - closes midnight Friday 1st August 2025

Winning poems to be celebrated on Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, Friday 22nd August 2025
Theme: “BIG THINGS little things” – to be interpreted as widely and wildly as entrants like

Winning poem: $50 cash prize

Judge: Renowned children’s writer and poet, Bill Nagelkerke

Criteria:
  • Entry is free
  • Open to anyone in New Zealand aged 18 years and over
  • Send in up to three poems aimed at 5-12 year olds
  • There is a 25 line limit per poem
  • Poems should be previously unpublished (including not on private blogs, websites, social media)
  • Poems should be all your own work and not have any AI generated content. Any poems found to have AI generated content will be disqualified.
  • Poems should be written in English
  • Previous winners are welcome to enter.

To Submit:
  • Poems should be in a single Word document. Please use the title of your first poem as the file name for this document. Please don’t include your name anywhere in this document
  • You will need to provide a short author bio including a sentence or two about why you write poetry for children (up to 100 words)
  • Preferred method: Completing the online entry form (requires Google account) at https://forms.gle/x2VjZ7kSEDqh4zj19 · Alternative method: Emailing your Word document to [email protected]. Please put Big Things Little Things Poetry Competition in the subject line. In the body of your email please include your name, the title(s) of your poem(s) and a brief author bio (up to 100 words) and 2-3 sentences about why you write poetry for children

The Fine Print:
By submitting an entry, you are consenting to your poem:
  • being promoted as part of Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2025 which may include being published in whole or in part on social or other media;
  • being published on social and other media to promote poetry for children in New Zealand and any future poetry for children competitions run by The Poets XYZ for National Poetry Day.
  • being used in future digital or printable media to promote poetry for children in New Zealand

Writers will retain copyright of their poems. Unfortunately it is not possible to provide personal feedback for each entry we receive.

Thank you to National Poetry Day and Phantom Billstickers for their support for this event.
For more info email [email protected] or visit us on Facebook at The Poets XYZ
Previous competition winners:
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The Poets XYZ 2024 winning poem LEAP
the_poets_xyz_2024_leap_winner_poem_poster_high_res.pdf
File Size: 2201 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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The Poets XYZ 2023 Winning Poem Drop by Drop
drop_by_drop_2023_winning_poem.pdf
File Size: 482 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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  • Home
  • About SLANZA
    • Our Mahi
    • Meet Our Team
    • SLANZA President Elect
    • Regions & Contact Us
    • Advocacy & Research
    • Membership >
      • Individual membership
      • Business membership
      • Life membership
    • Policies
  • AGM
  • News & Events
    • News Blog
    • SLANZA Awards
    • Aotearoa School Library Week >
      • Aotearoa SLW Resources 2025
      • Aotearoa SLW Resources 2024
      • Aotearoa SLW Resources 2023
      • Aotearoa SLW Resources 2022
    • The Poets XYZ Competition
    • SLANZA Annual Reading Survey
  • Professional Learning
    • Collected - SLANZA Magazine >
      • Archive
    • Professional development
    • Qualifications
    • Study grants
    • Open Polytechnic Discounts
    • Conferences >
      • SLANZA Hui 2025
  • Media & Projects
    • SLANZA in the Media
    • School Libraries Research Project
  • Resources
    • SLANZA Reading Lists
    • SLANZA Sessions Podcast
    • SLANZA Annual Wall Planner
    • Mailing lists
    • School Libraries Transform
    • More information for school libraries
    • Vacancies