Winning Words is a national public art initiative that brings poetry into the public space, linking culture and sport through the Olympic and Paralympic values to inspire the nation to use poetry in innovative and surprising ways and places. Winning Words aims to give poetry a prominent position in the 2012 celebrations by creating a lasting literary legacy for the nation.

Downpatrick has been chosen by Winning Words as one of 7 participating UK-wide Beacon Towns.

Down Arts Centre is running a competition to find a new poem that will be rendered by a visual artist, commissioned under the Winning Words programme, for permanent installation in a public area in the newly extended and refurbished arts centre.

They are inviting submissions for poems as follows:

• The author must be from or currently resident in Down District
• The poem must be original, unpublished work of no longer than 40 lines
• No more than 5 poems should be submitted per person
• Poems should take as their inspiration the 7 Olympic and Paralympic values of respect, excellence, friendship, courage, determination, inspiration and equality
• Deadline for submission is Friday 17 August
• Poems can be submitted via email, by post or in person.

For full competition guidelines please contact Down Arts Centre on 028 4461 0747 or visit www.downartscentre.com. The competition is open to all ages and abilities. For more information about Winning Words, visit www.winningwordspoetry.com.