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On Thursday, 14 May 2009 an online vote will be launched to find the Nation's Favourite Poet.

From a shortlist of 30 poets - as chosen by a panel of judges including the Director of the Poetry Society and the Director of the Arts Council - visitors to the website will be able to find out more about the poets, read some of their best-known works, watch video clips about their work from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ archive and ultimately vote for their favourite.

The vote will close at midday on Tuesday, 1 September 2009.

The result of the vote will be announced online on National Poetry Day on Thursday, 8 October 2009.

Rules:

1. Viewers can take part only by accessing the following link bbc.co.uk/poetryseason or by calling freephone 08000 924 305. Calls are free from most landlines. Some networks and mobile operators will charge for these calls. Please check with your service provider.

2. Any votes outside the announced voting interval will not count.

3. Telephone voters must ensure they obtain the bill-payer's consent before voting.

4. This is not a competition and there will be no prize for anyone whose suggested poet is the overall favourite.

5. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reserves the right to change, cancel or suspend this event at any time.

6. You can only vote once. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reserves the right to disqualify votes or suspend voting if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent voting has occurred or if it considers there has been any attempt to rig the voting. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ has the right to substitute an alternative selection method at its absolute discretion. The maximum number of votes made from one IP address or telephone number is 5.

7. If for any reason the online or telephone voting system fails, a contingency plan will be actioned. This will consist of the overall decision lying with the panel of judges who drew up the original poet shortlist for the vote. The panel will also have a casting vote in the event of a tie.

8. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any online, system, telephone network, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any vote being lost or not properly registered or recorded.

9. Please note that anyone who is directly connected in any way with the production of the Poetry Season or the provision of telephony services to Poetry Season is not eligible to vote.

10. The voting in Poetry Season accords with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Code of Conduct for Competitions and Voting.

11. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ will only use your personal data for purposes of running this event. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ complies with the Data Protection Act 1998. For more information on how the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ uses your information please refer to

See also the