Edinburgh 900 Libraries bookmark competition

As part of the Edinburgh 900 celebrations taking place across the city, Edinburgh Libraries are inviting residents to write a poem about the City of Edinburgh in connection with Edinburgh 900’s themes.

Honouring Edinburgh turning 900 years old, this is your chance to unleash your creativity and imagination. Six chosen winners will have their poems printed onto bookmarks and distributed throughout the city’s libraries.

Find out more about 900 years of Edinburgh and see the wide range of talks, tours, exhibitions and events from our partners and community groups taking place across the city on www.edinburgh.org/900

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Themes

The poem must be written about the City of Edinburgh in connection with the Edinburgh 900 celebrations. There are ten themes which can be used as inspiration for your poem:

In total, there will be six winners, chosen from three judges. The entries will be first read and filtered by library staff members, who will then give a selection of 20 poems each to judge. The judges will choose two winners each, which will then be printed onto bookmarks and distributed through issued books in the libraries.

How to enter

The poem must fit onto the spacing of the bookmark template.

The template can either be downloaded here, by emailing ed900bookmark@edinburgh.gov.uk, or by picking up a paper copy from any City of Edinburgh Council library.

Paper copies can be returned to any City of Edinburgh Council libraries. Digital copies can be emailed to ed900bookmark@edinburgh.gov.uk

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Terms and conditions

• This competition is free to enter.
• Entrants must be a resident in the Edinburgh postcode area and have an EH postcode.
• In accordance with City of Edinburgh Library card administration, entrants must be 18 years or older. The poem must fit onto the spacing of the bookmark template. The template can either be downloaded here, by emailing ed900bookmark@edinburgh.gov.uk, or by picking up a paper copy from any City of Edinburgh Council library.
• Paper copies can be returned to any City of Edinburgh Council libraries. Digital copies can be emailed to ed900bookmark@edinburgh.gov.uk
• Entry submission closes on 31January 2025. Entries submitted after this date will not be considered.
• All entries should be the work of the entrant. The poem must never have been previously published or self-published, either in print, on any website, or recorded. Please don’t submit posthumous or AI generated poems.
• If writing in any language other than English, please include an English translation – both must fit onto the bookmark spacing.
• If you submit a handwritten paper entry – please advise whether you would like your own handwriting to be printed onto the bookmark, or if you would like it to be printed.
• Please specify along with your entry which colour you would like the bookmark to be printed – this can be chosen from five colours – red, blue, orange, green and purple.
• We regret that physical copy entries cannot be returned.
• There are no limits to how many entries a person can return.
• Entries will be judged on the quality and impact of the writing, originality, the use of language and engagement with the theme(s).
• The judge’s decision is final, and no individual correspondence with entrants can be entered into.
• All poems will be judged solely on the poem submitted.
• Judges are unable to comment on individual entries.
• Judging will be fair and unbiased. Judges will declare any potential conflict of interest e.g. family relationship with entrants.
• Any design included with the entry will not influence the judges: it is the writing that is judged.

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Judges

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Privacy notice and data protection

By entering into this competition, you are giving us permission to contact you with the information you have provided.

To deliver this competition, we need to collect, store, use and dispose of personal information. We do not, under any circumstances, share any of your personal information. We may collect and process the following information provided by you so that we can make direct contact with the 6 chosen winners of ED900 Edinburgh Libraries Poetry Bookmark competition:

• Full name
• Postcode
• Telephone number
• Email address

By emailing or handing your entry into our libraries, you are consenting to your poem being judged and, if chosen as a winner, you will be contacted by City of Edinburgh Libraries to reach agreement on whether or not your details are included and your poem published.

If you are chosen as one of our selected winners and we contact you directly, you will at this point have the right to withdraw your consent for your poem to be published and distributed.

You are then consenting or refusing to City of Edinburgh Council Libraries Division, printing your poem onto 300 hard copy bookmarks that will be distributed by libraries in book issues from May to Aug 2025. You will also have the choice of including your name, part of your name or remaining anonymous.

All entries NOT chosen as winners will be removed and deleted, along with your personal information from the digital platform and all hard copies will be destroyed by shredding.

Under the guidance of the Record Management Department of City of Edinburgh Council, your personal data will be managed under: MAN-007-005 – Project Management. This requires The Council to keep your data for 2 years from the project close of 31^st January 2025.

Hard copies will be securely kept in a locked cabinet and digital copies will be securely saved in the Councils secure online presence.

Worldwide copyright of poems remains with the author, but the City of Edinburgh Council Libraries will have the unrestricted right to print the poem onto bookmarks to be distributed in libraries, publish the winning poems on its website and in competition publicity.

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