The shortlist for the 2022 CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Poetry Award) has been announced today (Wednesday 4 May).
The CliPPA Poetry Award was established in 2003 by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) and is the UK’s only award for published poetry for children. As well as celebrating outstanding children’s poetry, the CLiPPA encourages schools to explore the shortlist with their pupils through its Shadowing Scheme. Past winners include Carol Ann Duffy, John Agard and Jackie Kay; Michael Rosen won in 2021 with his collection On the Move: Poems about Migration.
The 2022 shortlist reflects the extraordinary vitality of the UK’s poetry publishing for children. In keeping with its aim of involving children in the CLiPPA celebrations, the shortlist was announced live at a special event at the Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University, hosted by poet Ruth Awolola. Schools from across the city attended, with pupils reading poems from each of the shortlisted collections on stage. Shortlisted poets Valerie Bloom, Matt Goodfellow, Laura Mucha and Kate Wakeling also attended and read their poems to the hugely enthusiastic audience.
Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive, CLPE commented, “CLPE is delighted to be celebrating the best of children’s poetry with live audiences again, and announcing the CLiPPA 2022 shortlist at the Manchester Poetry Library is such a treat. These five superb poetry books show just how diverse, accessible and essential children’s poetry is – and we can’t wait to share them with thousands of children from hundreds of schools across the country.”
The shortlist for this year’s award is as follows:
Stars with Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom, illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry Books.
The judges called this a lively demonstration of how children’s poetry can move from the personal to the planetary, the surreal to the scientific, laugh-out-loud to stop-and-think, in a breath.
Being Me Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings by Liz Brownlee, Matt Goodfellow and Laura Mucha, illustrated by Victoria Jane Wheeler, Otter-Barry Books.
The judges said: Being Me weaves three distinctive writing voices with a deft and witty illustrator’s eye to give young readers words and images to help them map all angles of their inner lives.
Caterpillar Cake by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage, Otter-Barry Books.
The judges said: Caterpillar Cake shows that we can bring subtlety and scope to the youngest reading ages by the power of reading aloud, not just hearing but feeling the words on your tongue.
The Crossing, Manjeet Mann, Penguin.
The judges said: The Crossing combines the narrative reach of a novel and the line by-line impact of poetry to tell the most urgently contemporary of stories in personal voices we cannot ignore.
Cloud Soup by Kate Wakeling, illustrated by Elina Brasliņa, The Emma Press.
The judges said: Cloud Soup whirls its readers deep into the play of the imagination so effortlessly that we barely notice how much we are learning about the craft, the thrilling possibilities, of poetry.
The winner of the CLiPPA will be announced at a special ceremony at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in July. For more information about the award, visit https://www.clpe.org.uk/poetryline/clippa.
Read more about shortlisting for the award on our guest blog from CLIPPA judge Becky Swain.
***Book Giveaway***
We have a full set of the shortlisted titles to give away to one of our followers. To enter, follow @booksfortopics on Twitter and retweet the giveaway tweet between Wednesday 4 May and 11.59pm Tuesday 10th May – terms and conditions here.
You can order all of the CLiPPA shortlisted titles here online.
Where next?
> Visit our own primary poetry booklist > Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
