Later this year Write Out Loud will be running a poetry competition for the Milestones Society. It won’t open for entries until the spring, but those of you eager to burn off the Christmas mince pies by exercising your grey matter can pick up your pens and start drafting poems now. Poems can be up to 40 lines long, and must be on the subject of milestones. These can be physical (“those quirky lumps of rock or cast iron sitting quietly by the wayside, marking a path into the past” as the Milestones website puts it) or metaphorical, and you can focus on one single milestone or a host of them.

The winning poem will receive a prize of £500. There will also be runners-up prizes, and a further prize for the best poem submitted by someone aged 16 or under. Entries are welcome from across the globe, but must be in English. We’ll be posting full details of the rules and how to enter nearer the time, but start scribbling now.

Finally, Write Out Loud wishes to take this opportunity to pass on its congratulations to Jan Scrine of the Milestone Society, who has been awarded a BEM in the New Year’s honours list in recognition of all her work. Now that’s a milestone!

Wishing all of you a happy, peaceful, and poetry-filled 2017!