Edinburgh winner in poetry competition

the soft-shoe-shuffle of the cocoa bean sacks,

the chattering hands, the industrious backs,

each bean a diamond, worked from the land

where a sunshine glitters like scattering sand….

(Extract from Ann Seed’s poem ‘Bean Dancing’)

Divine Chocolate and Christian Aid have announced the winners of this year’s national Divine Poetry Competition. Multiple award-winning  author Geraldine McCaughrean joined us to select the poems from amongst 2000 entries which best captured the theme “Chocolate is something to cherish”.  There are three age groups and this year the winner in the 17 – adult category was Ann Seed, a Houseparent atSt George’s School for Girls in Edinburgh.

As always the topic of chocolate stimulated thousands of budding poets to wax lyrical about chocolate, something they clearly love, and theFairtrade focus produced more reflective thoughts and ideas. The winners were chosen from 2000 entries, mostly from schools all over UK. The winners of both the 7-11 and 12-16 age groups were from schools in Kent.

Geraldine McCaughrean said:- “I believe the most sumptuous thing you can have in your mouth (other than chocolate) is words. So poetry and chocolate is a marriage made in heaven, and so is chocolate and Fairtrade. Bean Dancing, the wonderfully lilting poem by Ann Seed, came into its own when it was read aloud, capturing the pleasure of chocolate, and literally dancing on the page.”

Charlotte Borger, Communications Director at Divine Chocolate added:- “Our theme this year had the desired effect of making people think about what a huge part chocolate plays in our lives – whether as treats, rewards, celebrations and commiserations. Unless cocoa farmers are paid a sustainable price in the future there won’t be any more cocoa and chocolate could run out!  This focused minds and produced some lovely odes to chocolate. We were delighted to have Geraldine McCaughrean with us as our special guest judge.”

All the winning and runners up poems can be found on the Divine website at www.divinechocolate.com/poetry . You can also see Geraldine McCaughrean reading the winning poems aloud.

Winners will be receiving special Divine hampers, Divine t-shirts book tokens and Christian Aid pads, mugs and pens, as well as their individual certificates.