The 15th and final poetry competition in aid of a Calday Grange Grammar School student has opened.
The Christopher Salmon Poetry Competition is named after the 15-year-old, who passed away suddenly in 2009 from a rare streptococcal infection.
He had hopes of becoming an author, and dreamt of studying Russian and English at Oxford University.
After he passed away, his parents discovered a sheaf of poems he had written and hidden away in his room, which gave them the idea to launch a poetry competition in his name.
Christopher Salmon
The 2025 competition is open to entrants aged 19 or under who live or are being educated in Wirral, and is run in conjunction with Wirral Libraries and Wirral Poetry Festival.
The theme for this year’s competition is ‘hope’. A £100 prize is awarded to the winner in each of the five different age categories. The closing date is 7 March.
His parents, Julie and Rich Salmon, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the competition has grown so much in popularity and it is wonderful to be able to do something positive and creative in Christopher’s memory which captures the imagination of so many talented young people.
“We would like to thank everyone for their support over the last 15 years in helping us keep Christophers memory alive and making this competition such an outstanding success every year.”
The Christopher Salmon Foundation was set up in 2009 and has so far raised £67,000 in Christopher’s memory.
Further details, and an application form for the competition, can be found at https://www.chrissalmon.org.uk/.
