Bohdan Piasecki headshot
Bohdan Piasecki ©

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7th poetry competition for school pupils with guest judge Bohdan Piasecki

By taking part in our poetry competition, you have the chance to win tickets for the Poesiefestival Berlin 2026 (May-June), secure a place in a poetry workshop at the renowned Haus für Poesie in Berlin and take part in an exclusive poetry workshop with your class!

The British Council and Haus für Poesie are collaborating to host the seventh poetry competition for students in Grades 6-12 in Germany. Participants can showcase their creative writing skills in English or German while engaging with contemporary English-language poetry. This year's theme is 'Repair'. The judging panel includes award-winning poet Bohdan Piasecki and the Head of Poetic Education at Berlin's Haus für Poesie, Karla Montasser.

The task

  • Pupils should write a poem in English or German that refers to and responds to the work 'Again, Again' by Bohdan Piasecki and reflects on the theme of 'Repair'. 'Again, Again' can be viewed on YouTube, performed by the author, here and downloaded as a PDF below.
  • Poems must be submitted as text and may also be submitted as a video if desired.

Submitted poems should:

  • Be written in English or German
  • Not exceed 50 lines

Eligibility and rules

  • You must be a pupil at a school in Germany 
  • You must be in Grades 6-12 at the time of writing your poem

To apply

  • Email your poem to mitmachen@haus-fuer-poesie.org with the subject line: "British Council Poetry Competition 2026". In your email, please include your name, age, address, gender (m/f/d), the name of your school, your class and your English teacher's name and email address.
  • Closing date for entries: Sunday 3rd May 2026, 6 p.m.
  • Announcement of the winners: Friday 15th May 2026
  • If you have any questions about eligibility, please send an email to Karla Montasser (mitmachen@haus-fuer-poesie.org) or call +49 (0) 30 4852 4536.

Each entry submitted will receive personalised feedback on their writing.

Four poems will be selected as winners: a 1st and 2nd prize for poems in English and a 1st and 2nd prize for poems in German. 

  • All winners will have the opportunity to read their poem at the 2026 Poesiefestival and meet Bohdan Piasecki in person at a prize-giving ceremony on 12 June in Berlin.
  • All winning entries will be translated into German or English by a professional translator.
  • All winning entries will be published in English and German on the website and social media channels of the British Council in Germany and the Haus für Poesie.
  • Two winners will win a poetry-writing workshop with their class with Bohdan Piasecki.
  • All winners will win tickets to the 2026 Poetry Festival at Haus für Poesie, Berlin, which takes place in May-June 2026 (Dates tbc).
  • All winners will also win a place in the annual poetry workshop "Weiter im Text" or the "young poems" at Haus für Poesie.

Bohdan Piasecki is a poet who thrives on the energy of the live encounter. Originally from Poland, where he founded the country’s first poetry slam, he now lives and writes in Birmingham. His poems have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, including an airfield in Berlin, a bookshop in Beijing, an underground club in Tokyo, an upstairs room in an Eastbourne pub... This commitment to the stage led to him winning the first ever Forward Prize for Best Single Poem: Performed in 2023.

Bohdan’s practice is rooted in the belief that poetry is a shared act. He has spent years producing the poetry programme for Apples and Snakes and mentoring voices through the Roundhouse and Bellows collectives. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham, but he is most at home in the creative chaos of a festival or the quiet focus of a bookshop reading. He writes and translates between Polish, French, and English, treating translation and multilingualism as a creative tool. He enjoys the tension between the composed concentration of the written word and the messy, beautiful life of the spoken poem.

More about Bohdan Piasecki can be found here.
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