Marshmallow Clouds is the winner of the CLiPPA (CLPE Children's Poetry Award) 2023

This year's CLiPPA (CLPE Children's Poetry Award), in its special 20th anniversary year has been awarded to Marshmallow Clouds, poems inspired by nature by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones,(Walker Books) described as a thing of beauty.”  Choose Love  by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Petr Horáček (Graffeg) is Highly Commended for her moving sequence of poems about the refugee experience.  

The announcement came from CLiPPA judge, Chris Riddell during a buzzing live ceremony onstage at the Lyttleton Theatre, at the National Theatre on 10th July. The shortlisted poets read their poems onstage to a full house, and the CLiPPA Poetry Show also featured live poetry performances by children aged 5 - 13, winners of the unique CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme. The award was presented by last year’s CLiPPA winner Valerie Bloom and ALCS’s Mark Bispham. 

The other shortlisted collections are: 

• Blow a Kiss Catch a Kiss by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Nicola Killen, (Andersen Press), 
• Let’s Chase Stars Together, by Matt Goodfellow, (Bloomsbury Education),
• These are the Words by Nikita Gill, (Macmillan Children’s Books). 

The CLiPPA is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Arts Council England. 

View more about this year's shortlist as well as videos and resources from previous years