Answering back: young poets rediscover the classics
The SLN Poetry Competition 2026 invited pupils to revisit classic poems, question whether they still speak to us today and craft their own responses to the voices of the past. Read on to explore the digital flipbook collection, featuring all the winners and shortlisted entries, alongside the classic poems that inspired them.
The SLN Young Poets’ Competition 2026 has come to a close and all the wonderful entries have been judged. This year the theme was Answering Back to Poetry of the Past.
Congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted entries, and thank you to all the teachers and pupils who took part. A special thanks to our partner bookshop, Bookwagon, for supporting the prize fund. Winners will receive hand-selected book bundles for their school, courtesy of this specialist children’s bookseller.
Explore the book below that collects together the classic poems and the young poets’ creative responses. Even though the competition is closed, the teaching slides are still available for download from our resource library to inspire poetry in your class any time.
Discover the thinking behind this year’s theme in our blog post.