This year we are excited to have not one but TWO great competitions: POETRY and BAKING! Read on for details...
Junior Baking Competition
There are two age groups: 4-7 years and 8-14 years.
You can bake a cake, cupcakes or even biscuits... as long as they reflect this year's theme:
You can bake a cake, cupcakes or even biscuits... as long as they reflect this year's theme:
OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE!
Poetry Competition
POETRY JUDGE: Helen Cullen

Helen is an Irish writer living in South Bucks. Her debut novel, The Lost Letters of William Woolf was published in 2018 by Penguin Random House in Ireland, the UK, Ireland, Australia and South Africa and published in the USA by Harper Collins in 2019.
Described as “enchanting, intriguing, deeply moving” by the Irish Times, “delightful” by the Sunday Times, and “a wonderful debut with believable characters celebrating the untold and half-told stories all around us’” by Jess Kidd, the novel garnered Helen a Best Newcomer nomination at the 2018 Irish Book Awards. The novel has also been optioned for television by Mainstreet Productions whose past successes include Downtown Abbey and Broadchurch.
Before writing, Helen started her career with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE where she worked in radio broadcasting before moving to London in 2010. She subsequently worked for companies such as the BBC and The Times before her most recent role in Google on the EMEA marketing team where she worked until signing her publishing contract.
Helen wrote the first draft of her debut novel, The Lost Letters of William Woolf, while completing the Guardian/UEA novel writing programme under the mentorship of Michele Roberts. She holds a B.A. Communications from Dublin City University, an M.A. Theatre Studies from University College Dublin and is currently completing an M.A. in English Literature at Brunel University in London before commencing a creative writing PhD.
Helen is now writing full-time and her second novel will be published in spring 2020. You can find her at www.helencullen.ie or on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Described as “enchanting, intriguing, deeply moving” by the Irish Times, “delightful” by the Sunday Times, and “a wonderful debut with believable characters celebrating the untold and half-told stories all around us’” by Jess Kidd, the novel garnered Helen a Best Newcomer nomination at the 2018 Irish Book Awards. The novel has also been optioned for television by Mainstreet Productions whose past successes include Downtown Abbey and Broadchurch.
Before writing, Helen started her career with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE where she worked in radio broadcasting before moving to London in 2010. She subsequently worked for companies such as the BBC and The Times before her most recent role in Google on the EMEA marketing team where she worked until signing her publishing contract.
Helen wrote the first draft of her debut novel, The Lost Letters of William Woolf, while completing the Guardian/UEA novel writing programme under the mentorship of Michele Roberts. She holds a B.A. Communications from Dublin City University, an M.A. Theatre Studies from University College Dublin and is currently completing an M.A. in English Literature at Brunel University in London before commencing a creative writing PhD.
Helen is now writing full-time and her second novel will be published in spring 2020. You can find her at www.helencullen.ie or on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.