League of Canadian Poets is proud to announce the fourth annual Poetic Licence Contest for Canadian Youth. This national celebration of young talent is open to all writers from grade 7 to 12 (OAC in Ontario), and encourages submissions in either English or French.

The Poetic Licence Contest for Canadian Youth is offering prizes in both regional and national categories. First prize national winners in each language and age category will have their winning poems printed on National Poetry Month Posters. Over 10,000 copies of each poster will be distributed across the country and internationally for display during April 2002; National Poetry Month.

For the past 36 years, League of Canadian Poets, a national, not-for-profit charitable organization, has been committed to offering quality programmes and services designed to facilitate the teaching of Canadian poetry to youth. Our Poetic Licence Contest is free to all entrants, with no hidden fees for publication of the winner's work.

The winning poems from last year's Poetic Licence Contest can be found on our youth website, www.youngpoets.ca. This site is also an excellent source of inspiration for this year's entrants. Young writers are encouraged to browse our feature articles, interview a poet on-line, or join the discussion through our chat-room.

The Young Poet's site also features information for educators, offering lesson plans, reading lists, a digital history of Canadian poetry and an on-line discussion group. This is a valuable resource for teachers, youth workers, and anyone else with an interest in helping young writers explore their potential through poetic expression.

The deadline for submissions for the Poetic Licence Contest for Canadian Youth is January 15, 2002. Please visit League of Canadian Poets' website at www.poets.ca for official guidelines.

Edita Petrauskaite-Page
Executive Director

The League of Canadian Poets
54 Wolseley St.
Toronto, ON M5T 1A5
416 504 1657
fax: 416 504 0096 Visit Poetry Spoken Here Canadian Poetry Webstore www.poets.ca. Students and teachers, find out everything you ever wanted to know about poetry, talk with poets, read ezine on www.youngpoets.ca.