Poetry By Heart 2025 launches

Poetry by Heart is a national poetry-speaking competition for schools and colleges, which supports students in developing confidence with poetry in an accessible and engaging way. Schools are invited to send filmed entries of their pupils performing a poem that has been chosen from the Poetry by Heart website. 

Registration, participation and competition entry are free for schools and colleges in England and the competition is open to all pupils in key stages 2 to 5 (ages 7-16+). 

Competition entry dates:  You can upload your competition entry from early January until Friday 4th April 2025. Entrants must upload two videos for a Classic entry (one for each poem performance), and one video for a Freestyle entry.

Poet Imtiaz Dharker launched England's hugely popular national poetry speaking competition, Poetry By Heart, with a special event at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on National Poetry Day, 3 October.

Registration:  Schools that want to take part in the Poetry by Heart Competition 2025 should register via the Poetry by Heart website. 

Competition categories:  To enter, schools are invited to send filmed entries of their pupils performing a poem that has been chosen from the Poetry by Heart website.  Students can choose to enter the Classic category, with a solo performance of two Classic poems chosen from the website;  or to enter the Freestyle category, performing one poem solo or as a pair, small group or whole class.

The 2025 competition launched on 3rd October, with finalists chosen to perform at Shakespeare's Globe in the summer of 2025.  Encouraging everyone to learn poetry by heart, poet Imtiaz Dharker says, "Once you have learned a poem it doesn't just live in your head, it lives in your heart for ever and keeps giving new gifts back to you. It can mean one thing to you when you are seven, and something quite different when you are seventeen or seventy. It's like having a superpower that will stay with you for the rest of your life."

The Poetry by Heart poetry-speaking competition has now been running for a decade.  During 2024, over 111,000 pupils took part in the Poetry by Heart competition, learning poems by heart in their schools;  there were some 50,000 performances of a poem in school events;  and around 4,500 pupils entered the national competition, with over 800 pupils, parents and teachers celebrating their achievements at Shakespeare's Globe in July.

Find out more, or send any questions, via the Poetry by Heart website.