THIS year’s Mitchel­dean Young Poets’ competition has a new collaborator to help attract quality entries from all over the Dean.

The competition organisers are already working in partnership with Dean Forest Voice Junior Forest Bard and have enlisted the Dean Heritage Centre to run a series of poetry workshops.

The workshops include a morning of Forest-related activities which will be followed by the young people being encouraged to shape their impressions and ideas into poems.

These will then be entered into the two competitions.

Jo Clarke, the heritage centre’s education officer said: “We are giving the Forest a voice and letting it speak for itself – through the children’s poems.”

John Livesey, competition spokesman said: “To have the heritage centre involved is just about the best news possible for us and for the young poets. Who better to give them a sense of what the Forest is, what makes it tick, what makes it special? I can’t wait to see the poems.”

Details for this year’s Young Poets’ competition are: poems may be on any topic up to 20 lines; There will be four age groups: five to eight; nine to 11;12 to 16 and 17 to 18.The closing date for applications is May 31 and the winners to be announced at the end of June.

Prize-winners will be invited to read their poems and receive their prizes at the poetry recital to be held at Mitcheldean Library in July as part of the Mitcheldean Fete and Folk Festival.

Entry forms can be obtained from Mitcheldean library and other local libraries or from the library website.