Waterstones book shop in York is hosting a poetry competition aimed at all ages of new and upcoming poets.

The poetry competition is in part to mark the start of York’s Literature Festival for 2008.

Poets who enter will have their work judged by best-selling author Gervase Phinn.

Wasterstones’ senior book seller had this to say for York Press: “It’s open to everybody who wants to put pen to paper and we’re leaving the topic completely open, so it’s totally up to you to decide what you write about.

“We will accept all styles, including things like limericks and sonnets, but there will be a word limit, because although it would be great to have an epic like Paradise Lost, we might not have the time to get through them all.”

The poems entered will be split into three categories according to the age of the poet: under-11s, 11 to 16s and over-16s.

Selected staff at Waterstones will make a shortlist of chosen entries that will be sent on to Gervase Phinn for final judging.

The poetry competition closing date is 17th February, please call in at Waterstones in York for an entry form.