To celebrate Switchboard’s upcoming 50th Birthday in 2024 and celebrate the vast creativity within the LGBTQIA+ communities, they have launched a poetry competition and are calling for submissions around the theme of “A Poem for Switchboard”.
Whether you have reached out to Switchboard yourself, been a volunteer or simply understand the importance of a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community, they would love to hear from you.
Some examples of things you could write about include:
Your experience calling or chatting with Switchboard in the past and the impact this had on you
Reasons why you might have never reached out to Switchboard, but would like to or wanted to
The importance of safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community
LGBTQIA+ role models
People who were there for you, but may no longer be
The need to have someone to listen to or communicate your thoughts and feelings with
Your hopes and fears for the future
50 years of activism and change in our communities
Click here (https://switchboard.lgbt/switchboard-news-poetry-comp/) to read more about the competition, as well as get the T's & C's.
A few important things to note about the competition:
Maximum of 50 lines per poem.
Poems may be submitted anonymously or attributed to their author.
Closing date: 5th February 2024
All poems must be the unpublished work of the person entering them into the competition.
Successful entries will be assessed by our judging poets and winning poems will be published by Switchboard.
There is no financial reward attached to this competition, but we will be inviting the winning authors to a Switchboard reception.
Please email your submissions to poems@switchboard.lgbt