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Kooser and Wanek win CLPE Children’s Poetry Award for ‘outstanding’ collection
Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek have won the CLPE Children’s Poetry Award (CLiPPA) for Marshmallow Clouds (Walker Books), illustrated by Richard Jones.
The winners were announced by judge Chris Riddell OBE and presented by last year’s winner Valerie Bloom and ALCS’s Mark Bispham at the National Theatre’s Lyttleton Theatre on 10th July.
Kooser and Wanek receive a trophy and share a cheque for £1,000. As part of the prize they will also be recorded for the prestigious National Poetry Archive. The CLiPPA is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Arts Council England.
Riddell said: “Marshmallow Clouds impressed all the judges with the sheer quality of the poetry. The illustrations are in sympathy with the poems and the quality of the design and production is outstanding. It is a thing of beauty.”
Nicola Davies was highly commended for her “moving sequence of poems about the refugee experience", Choose Love (Graffeg), illustrated by Petr Horáček. Davies will also be recorded for the National Poetry Archive. Riddell described Choose Love as “an immensely moving and passionate response to the refugee crisis that shows how relevant poetry for young people can be in addressing contemporary issues […] The judges’ decision on both books was unanimous and we are immensely proud to highlight both these collections".
Charlotte Hacking, learning programme director at CLPE and member of the judging panel, said: “The strength of this year’s shortlist made this a really difficult decision. Every one of these books is exceptional. Marshmallow Clouds is an exceptional example of poetry published for children, speaking to children of all ages about the world around them and their place within it.”
Children in schools across the UK explored all five collections on the shortlist through the CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme, which each year prompts poetry performances by thousands of children in hundreds of classrooms. Record numbers of schools took part in the scheme this year, according to the organisers, and the young creators of the best poem performances took part in the ceremony, performing poems from each of the shortlisted collections live on stage alongside the poets.
Louise Johns-Shepherd, chief executive at CLPE, said: “Poetry is a wonderful medium for engaging children in reading and writing, but it is often overlooked. The CLiPPA has been shining a spotlight on children’s poetry for 20 years and the excitement generated amongst children grows ever bigger.
"On the 20th anniversary of the CLiPPA, we are delighted to have such a strong shortlist and to celebrate it with so much joy and excitement. Our young audience today lifted the roof off the National Theatre and regard Ted, Connie, Joseph, Nicola, Nikita and Matt as superstars.”
