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'Mustafa’s Jumper' by Coral Rumble has won this year’s The Caterpillar Poetry Prize, given every year for an unpublished poem written by an adult for children.
British poet Chrissie Gittins, who judged the prize this year, said: “This arresting, dramatic poem had my attention from the start. Its transparent direct language propelled me straight into the narrative. A resonant, circular poem summoned deftly through the image of a frayed jumper. It uses pinpoint details and easy rhyme. Not a word is wasted.”
“It was a constant pleasure and surprise to discover the range of subject matter and approaches in the submissions to the Prize,” she added. “The difficulty was in choosing between vastly different types of poem of comparable quality.”
Rumble has published three collections of poetry for children and has contributed to the CBeebies TV programmes Poetry Pie and The Rhyme Rocket. Her picture book The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat (Wacky Bee Books), illustrated by her daughter Charlotte Cooke, was longlisted for the Oscar’s First Book Prize.
Gittins, who judged the prize anonymously, also commended poems by Carole Bromley, Marie Carmichael, Nikki Cookson, Sam Cummings, Matt Goodfellow, Nicolette Gunn, Mary Green, Louise Greig, Jonathan Humble, Jenny Lamothe and Kate O’Neil.
The €1,000 (£876) Caterpillar Poetry Prize is run by Irish junior art & literature magazine The Caterpillar.