The Ellie J. Shakerley Poetry Competition
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Ellie J. Shakerley was born in 1963 in London and lived in Surrey, Hampshire, Wales and Cumbria. Ellie was born with mild hearing and learning disabilities but preferred to be seen as artistic, not autistic. Ellie was affected by an intense shyness and chose long periods of isolation – made a lot worse by depression, hyperthyroidism and endometriosis – despite being enormously loved by her family. In that time Ellie found within herself the strong, second persona of an articulate and powerful poet and thus a compulsive, fulfilling way to express and live with her emotions. When she needed it most Ellie found she had a great talent, and shaping her poems brought her great happiness. In March 2017 Ellie tragically passed and left behind over 500 completed poems of extraordinary and vivid originality.
The Competition
The competition made possible by the family of Ellie Shakerley, has been created to boost fun, joy, and friendship within Rethink Mental Illness groups.
This year our Lived Experience Advisory Board have chosen the theme of...
INSPIRATION
Get writing! Poems can be submitted to groups@rethink.org until 14th February 2020
Entrants must be a member of a Rethink Mental Illness group.
This year entries will be judged on:
Rhyme and Style- although poems do not have to rhyme
Organisation
Form and Flow‐ shape poem takes on paper
Technical Excellence‐ contains no grammatical errors
Overall Impact‐ is the poem memorable
The word limit for each poem is 150 words
The prizes
Each winning entry will win you £100.00 and £900.00 for your group to use within the year to be spent on activities to boost fun, joy and friendship.
Winners announced in March 2020.
If you have any questions at all get in touch, email groups@rethink.org
