Young Poet Laureate Programme
Helping children and young people find their voice through poetry
The Young Poet Laureate programme, created by the National Poetry Centre in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, celebrates the power of poetry to inspire creativity, build confidence and help children and young people express themselves.
Through classroom resources, poetry opportunities and the voices of young poets from across the country, the programme supports schools to make poetry engaging, inclusive and accessible for all learners.
Whether you are introducing poetry for the first time or looking to deepen pupils’ creative writing experiences, we are here to help you bring poetry to life in your classroom.
Meet the Young Poet Laureates 2026-2027
Our Young Poet Laureates are passionate young writers using poetry to explore ideas, share experiences and inspire others.
Young Poet Laureate Anthology 2026
You can read this year's anthology of poems from 120 shortlisted young poets from across England.
How the programme works
The Young Poet Laureate programme champions young poetic voices and helps schools celebrate poetry as a creative and inclusive art form.
The programme aims to:
- celebrate and elevate young voices
- promote poetry as diverse, relevant and accessible
- support creativity, literacy and confidence
- inspire children and young people to write for pleasure
- create opportunities for pupils to share and celebrate their work
Building on the success of the Young Poet Laureate for West Yorkshire programme, this national initiative has been developed in partnership with the National Poetry Centre and supported by leading voices in poetry and literacy.
"Poetry is something where one quiet voice can become a loud voice and can be heard..."
Year 10 pupil
Why is this important?
Our writing research for 2025 reveals that the downward trend in the number of children and young people writing for pleasure in the UK continues. Only 1 in 4 (26.6%) young people aged 8 to 18 say they enjoy writing in their free time. Daily writing habits have similarly declined, with just 1 in 10 (10.4%) writing something in their free time each day.
But the report also offers hopeful insights into how we might re-engage children and young people in writing for pleasure by looking at their motivations for writing. Even those children who don’t enjoy writing told us they would be motivated to write if they were able to choose their own topics, select their writing style, respond to inspiring prompts and draw inspiration from memorable experiences they wanted to share. This is exactly what we aim to achieve through the Young Poet Laureate programme, centring children and young people’s voices and experiences, choice and freedom of expression.
Furthermore, in 2024 we published poetry research that revealed the significant benefits poetry can have on children's mental wellbeing, confidence, aptitude for learning and their ability to develop empathy. Only 1 in 2 (48.8%) of 8 to 16 year olds are currently consuming or creating poetry in any form, meaning that over half of children and young people are missing out on these vital benefits. Our research reveals that the main barriers to engaging children with poetry is their feeling that it is boring or about topics that don't interest them. The Young Poet Laureate programme is a tailored solution-based offer to change children and young people's perception of poetry, to address their diverse interests and to offer low-stakes opportunities to enjoy poetry.
Register to be the first to hear about future opportunities to take part in the Young Poet Laureate programme
Partner information
About National Poetry Centre
The National Poetry Centre is the UK's first dedicated national headquarters, connecting people to poetry from all cultures and backgrounds. A unique hub for awards, events, performances, exhibitions, workshops, open-mic nights, a library, archives, digital access and more, it is also a champion of poetry in schools, healthcare settings, community centres and public spaces across the country. Based in Leeds and guided by the vision of the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, the National Poetry Centre has been created to support and celebrate poetry everywhere in the UK.
Supporters
We are grateful to support from Arts Council England, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Charlotte Aitken Trust.
Our national Young Poet Laureate programme was first piloted in 2023 with the West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureate programme. We partnered with the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and National Poet Laureate Simon Armitage to inspire the next generation of young poets in West Yorkshire with a week of poet-led school activities and a subsequent programme to appoint the first-ever Young Poets Laureate.