Duke leads national search for modern-day war poets
Prince William invokes First World War verse in launch of contest to find 21st-century equivalent
ONCE heard, the haunting words of Wilfred Owen and his First World War contemporaries can never be forgotten, capturing all the heroism, trauma and tragedy their generation endured. A century on, the Duke of Cambridge is leading the search for a talented poet for a new era, inviting them to write their “modern-day perspective on service, conflict and humankind’s ability to overcome adversity”.
The Duke, who said he never failed to be moved by the “sentiments invoked by the brave, young soldiers” of the First World War, has set up a national poetry competition to immortalise the service and sacrifice of 21st-century servicemen and women, promising to read out the winning entry. It marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War and the opening of The Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC): a world-leading clinical rehabilitation centre for the Armed Forces.
Called A Poem To Remember, it is intended to honour and convey the challenges faced by current serving men and women, and their families.
Ahead of the competition’s launch today, the Duke of Cambridge said: “The centenary year of the end of the First World War is a very appropriate year to be launching a national poetry prize. Many of the memories of that conflict, and our understanding of it, have been shaped by the remarkable works of poetry written by those caught up in that struggle.
“I, like countless other readers over the decades since the war, have always been moved by sentiments invoked by the brave, young soldiers.
“That is why – as patron of the appeal to build The Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre – I am delighted to help launch this competition to find a new poem that, inspired by those earlier works, will have its own modernday perspective on service, conflict and humankind’s ability to overcome adversity. I am greatly looking forward to reading the winning entry.”
The best poem will be chosen by the public from a shortlist of five. It will be mounted at the DNRC, with its author receiving a £2,000 cash prize.
The DNRC, which is funded by charitable donations, will succeed Headley Court as the UK’S leading facility for the clinical rehabilitation of sick and injured members of the Armed Forces later this year. The building project was initiated by the late 6th Duke of Westminster, who had 40 years of service in the British Reserve Army. The facility, which will be run by the Ministry of Defence, is situated near Loughborough.
The poetry competition is open to anybody aged 17 and over, and requires writers to submit unpublished work no more than 25 lines long. It is now open, with a deadline for entries on April 9.