Poetry Competition Winners 2020

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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 

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