Entering the competition

1. Entry to the Sodexo Stop Hunger and Chapter One Poetry Competition is free.

2. The competition is open to children who live in the UK and are in full-time education, from Reception to Year 13. Each child participant must either: (a) have a parent, guardian or other adult in their family circle (e.g. sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent) who works for Sodexo Limited or any of its subsidiaries in the UK (including Alliance in Partnership); (b) attend one of the following schools where Sodexo or Alliance in Partnership operates: The Edinburgh Academy, Hadlow Primary, Stoke Bishop C of E Primary and St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary; or (c) attend one of the following schools where Chapter One operates: Newport Primary School, Hilltop Primary School, Torriano Primary School and Leighton Primary School.

3. A child can participate on their own, or can co-write their entry with the help of an adult.

4. The opening date for entries is 24 November 2025.

5. All competition entries must be received by 23:59 on 9 March (extended from original deadline of 27 February 2026).

6. All poems submitted must cover the competition theme of fruits and/or vegetables and must be no longer than 5 lines in length. They should be targeted for reading by children of primary school age. Entries must be written in English.

7. All entries must be the original work of the participant(s) and not automatically generated in any way by a computer. Generative Artificial Intelligence platforms cannot be used. For example, Microsoft CoPilot, ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The organisers reserve the right to use AI-detection software and to disqualify any entry that is suspected of having been created with the assistance of AI.

8. All entries must be submitted using the form available and all necessary fields must be completed correctly. The form must be completed by someone aged 18 or over.

9. Each eligible child may submit a maximum of three original poems.

Selecting the winners

10. Poems will be judged based on the following criteria: (a) the originality and creativity of ideas will be considered; (b) the way the poem engaged and communicates with its target audience to ensure it resonates with and captivates the intended readership.

11. The organisers will carry out a shortlisting exercise followed by a final judging exercise. The organisers will select a total of 9 winning entries. For each of the eligibility groups in clause 2 above, there will be 1 winner from group (a), 4 winners from group (b) (one per school) and 4 winners from group (c) (no more than one per school). The organisers may also award highly commended status to up to 12 runner-up entries in addition to the 9 winning entries.

Announcing the winners

12. The organisers intend to announce the winners by 15 May 2026, but reserve the right to change this date without notice.

13. Winners will be notified using the email address provided in their entry form.

14. Winners will be announced on the Chapter One website. Communications will also be sent to each participating school and an announcement will be made to Sodexo employees. The name of each winner and runner-up will also be included in the anthology. First names and surname initials will be used. If you object to all or part of the name of any participant being published in this manner, please contact the organisers. In such circumstances, the organisers must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on request.

Prizes

15. The 9 winning poems and 12 runner-up poems will be published in an illustrated anthology, as well as in Chapter One's online Global Free Library. These winning entrants will also be invited to an online celebration event for the winners

16. Each of the 9 winning entries will win a £20 book voucher

17. For each of the 9 winning entrants, a hard copy of the illustrated anthology containing the winning entries will be provided to each child in the entrant’s school class. Each runner-up will also receive a hard copy of the illustrated anthology

18. Prizes are non-exchangeable and non-transferable

19. In the event that, for reasons outside of the organisers' control, the organisers are not able to award the prizes as described in these Terms and Conditions, the organisers reserve the right to cancel or postpone the competition or to make the prizes unavailable.

Intellectual property rights

20. Intellectual property rights (including copyright) in each poem submitted for entry will remain the ownership of the author(s), but by submitting an entry the entrant confirms (on their behalf and on behalf of the child entrant) that Chapter One and Sodexo Limited will have a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free licence in perpetuity to: (a) edit the poem to ensure that language and concepts are appropriate for the target audience; and (b) publish the poem (edited or unedited) as provided for in these Terms and Conditions; and (c) otherwise use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sub-licence the intellectual property rights in the competition entry in connection with any publicity of the competition.

Personal data

21. By taking part in this competition, all participants consent to the organisers collecting, storing and using their personal data submitted with their entry for the purpose of this competition. If you are an adult submitting an entry on behalf of a person under the age of 18, by submitting their personal data you consent to the organisers collecting, storing and using that person's personal data submitted with their entry for the purpose of this competition.

a. The Sodexo Limited privacy policy is available at https://uk.sodexo.com/legal/pr...
b. The Chapter One privacy policy is available at https://www.chapterone.org/uk/...

These Terms and Conditions

22. The organisers reserve the right to refuse entry or refuse to award the prize to anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions.

23. If you have any questions about the competition or these Terms and Conditions, please submit your questions to StopHunger.UKandIE@sodexo.com.

24. By participating in this competition, each participant confirms they had read, understood, agreed to and complied with these Terms and Conditions.

25. Insofar as is permitted by law, the organisers, their agents and distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of the organiser, its agents or distributors. Your statutory rights are not affected.

26. These Terms and Conditions are governed by English law. If any entrants to this competition wish to take court proceedings, then they must do this within the courts in the United Kingdom.

The organisers

27. This competition is being operated by Chapter One (of 4 Torriano Cottages, London NW5 2TA) and Sodexo Limited (of One Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5HA).

SUBMIT YOUR POEMS VIA THIS LINK BY 9 MARCH 2026

If you are unsure of your eligibility or have additional questions regarding the competition, please feel free to contact us on StopHunger.UKandIE@sodexo.com or Chapter One's Roxanne Welch at roxanne.welch@chapterone.org.

Most importantly - have fun! Good luck!