Building on the overwhelming success of its 2025 inaugural launch, Macmillan Education Caribbean has officially opened submissions for the second edition of its beloved New Branches Poetry Competition, calling on students and educators across the Caribbean region to put their creative talents on display. Kicking off on June 8, 2026, this year’s iteration has been strategically expanded to remove barriers to broader participation, while upholding the competition’s core mission: boosting literacy, celebrating Caribbean cultural identity, and nurturing a lifelong passion for Language Arts among learners and teaching professionals across the region.
The most notable update for the 2026 competition is the introduction of a brand-new Upper Secondary division, extending eligibility beyond the three original categories—Primary, Lower Secondary, and Teacher—offered in the first year of the event. This adjustment opens the creative platform to older secondary students who were previously unable to compete, creating space for more diverse voices from across the regional education community.
All participants are required to submit original poetry centered on Caribbean-focused themes, with organizers curating a flexible list of prompts to spark creativity. The suggested topics include Life by the Sea in the Caribbean, Festivals in My Country, Caribbean Food and Culture, My Island or My Community, Voices of the Caribbean, and Journeys, Roots and Belonging—all designed to encourage creators to draw from their own lived experiences in the region.
Organizers have also updated submission guidelines to align with the new category structure. Primary school entrants must submit poems between 8 and 20 lines long, while competitors in the Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary, and Teacher divisions face a 10 to 25 line limit for their entries.
A carefully selected two-person judging panel will evaluate all submissions, bringing together decades of literary and educational experience from across the region. Returning for her second consecutive year as a judge is Julia Sander, a celebrated author and creative writing trainer, who is joined by first-time judge Mansha Hunte-Baptiste, a Saint Lucian author and educator who recently took part in Macmillan Education’s Caribbean Author Academy initiative.
Beyond the opportunity to showcase their work on a regional stage, top entries will earn a permanent spot in the 2026 New Branches poetry anthology, with all winning creators receiving a complimentary printed copy of the collection to commemorate their achievement.
In alignment with the competition’s focus on literacy, the submission window will close exactly three months after opening, on September 8, 2026, to coincide with the annual observance of World Literacy Day. Full competition rules, eligibility details, and submission instructions will be accessible via a downloadable blog post on Macmillan Education Caribbean’s official website, as well as through a dedicated SharePoint link distributed directly to schools and education stakeholders across the Caribbean.
The 2025 inaugural competition saw three standout winners from across the region: Celine Rolle of St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School in Exuma, The Bahamas, who took top honors in the Primary division; Shakeir Thomas of Antigua Grammar School in Antigua and Barbuda, the winning Lower Secondary participant; and Sasha Maynard, a teacher at Charles E. Mills Secondary School in St. Kitts and Nevis, who claimed first place in the educator category.
Interested participants and educators can find additional information by visiting the Macmillan Education Caribbean official website, or reach out directly to Dr. Katy Anyasoro, Marketing Manager for Macmillan Caribbean and International Curriculum, via email or telephone for inquiries.