THE MALVERN Hills will be filled with the sound of poetry after two writers from the district won their respective age categories in this year’s Worcestershire Young Poet Laureate competition.
Amber McAndrew, who attends Malvern St James, won the eight to 11 section with her poems ‘Identity’ and ‘An Ocean of Reflection’ and Joshua Dyer, from Tenbury Wells Ormiston Academy, took the 12 to 15-year-olds title with his pieces ‘An identity for someone who’s forgotten theirs’ and ‘One thousand men are walking’.
The overall winner and 2020 Worcestershire Young Poet Laureate was 17-year-old Ellie Dart.
The poetry competition is run jointly by Worcestershire County Council’s Libraries Service and Severn Arts.
The final was due to take place at The Hive but had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead entries were submitted online and judged by 2017-18 Birmingham Poet Laureate Matt Windle, songwriter and performance coach Ade Holbrook, award-winning performance poet and former Birmingham Poet Laureate ‘Spoz’ and Sophie Green, Worcestershire’s 2019 Young Poet Laureate 2019.
The judges congratulated all three winners.
Matt thanked all the finalists for their brilliant work and commitment during these unprecedented times.
“The winners have inspired me and I’m excited to see them perform live in the future.
“Amber is a stand out writer that has a bright future within the arts. Josh is a memorable performer and an artist that I look forward to seeing more of in the future.”
Coun Lucy Hodgson, Worcestershire’s County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, added the event was a wonderful annual tradition which celebrated the talents of budding young poets across the county.
She added every year the standard of entries astounded her.
Laura Worsfold, Chief Executive of Severn Arts, added: “We are delighted to reward our young poets and particularly at this time, poetry can provide a way of creative expression and escape for us all.
“The quality of the poems produced in all three age categories was outstanding.”
She added the competition celebrated the spoken word and they hoped to see a whole anthology of Worcestershire poems in the future.
Spoz will mentor Ellie and she will have the chance to perform her poetry throughout the next 12 months.
A presentation event will be held at The Hive when the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.
Visit worcestershire.gov.uk/youngpoet or www.severnarts.org.uk to read the winning poems.
