Updated: Wednesday, 4th August, 2010 4:57pm

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Search on for performing poets

Dear sir - With over £3,000 in prizes and the opportunity to wear the coveted 'Bard of Armagh' crown, the 2010 Bard competition of humorous verse has just been launched. Former winners include such esteemed performers as Patsy O'Hagan, Pat McGeeney, Jimmy Rafferty and reigning Bard, Liam McNally. The finals take place in the Armagh City Hotel on Friday 19th November and the closing date for entries is 1st October. Details about how to enter, recordings and ticket information can be found on the newly revamped website www.bardofarmagh.com.

The art of poetry is the oldest and most illustrious art form in Ireland. From an oral tradition of two thousand years and a vast written tradition up to the present day, the poet occupies a special place in the hearts and souls of the people and is respected as in no other country.

Now in its seventeenth year, the annual Bard of Armagh Festival of humorous verse has become an institution. Nothing like it exists anywhere in Ireland. It is as if the growing number of patrons and devotees follow a bright light in the winter gloom, a rare occasion of unparalleled hilarity and enjoyment positioned exactly between the end of summer and Christmas. On the bard night, a special irresistible energy flows, which always activates the audience and causes them to remove the shackles of modern living and become submerged in a tidal wave of laughter. They leave the event somewhat wiser and more composed having supped of the glass of good humour and jollification.

The event has activated the art of versifying throughout the country and inspired a new generation of writers and reciters. The festival is original. It does not imitate.

Inspiration for the mind, therapy for the body and healing for the spirit, it sets its own standards and the people have responded accordingly, unleashing hitherto suppressed creative energies. This is home brew par excellence, the art of the people that no imported art can touch.

The organisers are inviting writers of humorous verse to visit the website and avail of the opportunity of taking a spellbound audience of 1000 people on a spellbinding journey of hilarity and escape.

Yours,

John Makem,

Bard of Armagh Festival