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The prizegiving for the 10th Young People’s Poetry Competition took place on Zoom on Friday September 11th. They were announced by writer/director Vicky Ireland, chair of Action for Children’s Arts, with comments by the judges. Thanks to supporters ChiswickW4,com, Bookcase, Give A Book, Otter Barry Books and Quarto Kids.
You can watch the Prizegiving here on YouTube.
You can read the winning poems here. And the 2019 winners here.
POEMS IN THE LOCKDOWN CATEGORY
2020 yielded many exceptionally special poems and the Judges realised we needed to introduce a new section to mark the impact on young people of the pandemic: the Lockdown Category. You can read the Lockdown poems here.
The five Children’s Poetry Judges, Carol, James, Lucy, Nicky and Susan, selected just one poem from each year group for that category. However, as so many were submitted, several appealing Lockdown poems have been included within a particular poet’s year group.
We were deeply impressed with the maturity and sensitivity in the winning Covid-19 poems; the way the young poets had thoughtfully arranged the words to resonate with themselves and many of their readers. Hard to write in a time of crisis but the experience of writing a poem may have helped these young poets to understand their emotions and to feel a sense of release through words.
A few words from Suri Bains’s poem are as relevant now as they were when she wrote the poem during the Spring/Summer, “When will this end?’ Words that echo within all our minds.
Susan Stanley-Carroll
Lockdown category
Elin Shaw Life in lockdown Yr 3
Suri Bains Coronavirus (I heard it on the BBC) Yr 4
Alice Esler Rainbow Yr 5
Mair Skipper Waiting Yr 6
Tisha Maroo Locked In Yr 7
Year 3
First prize
Diana Morrow Roar!
Joint Second prize
Riam Kapur Let’s Make A Butterfly
Willow Rose Stern The Whale’s Song
Third Prize
Harry Huber-Offord The Magic Box
Commended
Vinnie Johnson Sometimes On A Special Day
Ella Miller About My Nonna
Belle Rose Burchell Dinosaur Dinosaur Dinosaur!
Esme Campbell-White A Handful of Wishes
Year 4
First prize
Matthew Lopez Three Cheers For Captain Tom
Second prize
Pin-Chieh Chou Journey Through History
Joint Third prize
Aila Safdar What is Family?
Ana Valganon-Archanco If I Were A Paintbrush
Commended
Rory Hunter Coronavirus (at no. 10)
Imogen Milns An Ant On Your Lip
Edie Widowson Our Precious World
Year 5
First prize
Bea Bradley Buddy
Joint Second prize
Elizabeth Morrow What Is The Moon?
Ava Graham The Final Jump
Joint Third prize
Nikhal Ghai The Stick
Clarissa Lovatt-Young A Song of Love and Pain
Commended
Timothee Sambor The Beauty of Nature
Emma Websper If I Were Invisible
Siddhant Shetty Love Poem
Fiona Sweeney The Snow Leopard
Year 6
First prize
Bella Fletcher A View From The Bridge (Chiswick House)
Second prize
Alex Hunter The Postman
Third prize
Nattie Thompson Ode To Eating Mangoes On Holiday
Commended
Giorgia Carraretto Spring Is Here
Ghita Berrada Mountains
Eliza Cloughley Nature Moor Poem
Year 7
Joint First prize
Ivy Lo Moulding Words
Caitlin Gallagher Rattan Pandemic Paradise
Second prize
Cameron Cobb The Island
Third prize
Ruby Green Dreams of Freedom
Commended
Bailey Stammers Family Food