Poems on the theme of exploration converged in search of a prize in the competition honouring Venetian explorer Marco Polo. The traveller – who opened up the world of central Asia, explored the Silk Road, and lived a quarter of his life in China – recorded his adventures in books, so that seven hundred years after his death we can retrace his footsteps.
Poets were invited to write on any aspect of the theme, and while many concentrated on discovering our planet and others in space, some looked at exploratory medical procedures, babies learning their world, the testing of relationships, seeking a new job, and other forays into unfamiliar territory.
Most of the entries moved through their content logically and carefully, and many used imagery with
