Prestigious poetry prize for Perse pupil
Alex Dunton (Year 11) has claimed a prestigious Foyles Young Poets of the Year Award.
Her verse, entitled Teeth, was one of just 15 overall winning poems selected from more than 14,400 entries across the world in the competition, organised by The Poetry Society for young writers aged 11 to 17.
The awards were judged by contemporary poets Clare Pollard and Yomi Sode, who said of the winning poems: “After a period in which the burdens of the pandemic have often fallen so heavily on young people, we were moved by the beauty, fire and resilience of these poems. We know that the voices of this year’s winners will ring out, clear and urgent, over the coming years.”
Teeth will now be published in a special anthology and as part of the prize, Alex has been invited to a week-long residential writing course in Shropshire in February. There she will have the chance to work with Clare and Yomi on improving her poetry writing.
Alex said: “I was really surprised to win, but very happy. I’ve always liked to write, but we’ve been studying poetry in English lessons and this was something I did on a whim. Winning this competition is a real confidence booster.”
I was really surprised to win, but very happy. I’ve always liked to write, but we’ve been studying poetry in English lessons and this was something I did on a whim. Winning this competition is a real confidence booster.
Alex Dunton
Published