THE WINNERS of Malvern Hills District Council’s first ever poetry competition have been revealed.
Almost 70 budding bards sent in pieces on the theme ‘The Year 2020’ with entrants ranging from five to 88 years old.
Eleanor’s The Real Rainbow won the Under 11s category with Sarah’s ‘2020 Environment’ in second place.
The 12 to 17-year-olds section was won by April Louise who submitted ‘The Calendar of Chaos’ and an untitled piece by Alex was runner-up.
And in the Over 18s category, A Tale of Two Parallel Epochs by Florence Hayles judged to be the best and An Ode to 2020 by Helen Dalgleish.
The judging panel included Malvern Hills District Council leader Coun Sarah Rouse, Worcestershire’s Young Poet Laureate Ellie Dart and Tracy Kelly-Freer, from Malvern Book Co-Operative.
All finalists received a certificate and the winners have been handed vouchers to use at the Malvern Book Co-Operative.
Coun Rouse said: “We had a great response from budding poets of all ages across the Malvern Hills District who interpreted the theme in creative ways.
“It was a very difficult decision to choose only three winners, a big congratulations to the finalists and thank you to everyone who took part.”
She added competitions like this were a great way to encourage people to get creative and raise awareness of the many wonderful local book shops Malvern had to offer.
Malvern Book Co-operative set up The Outreach Project in 2019 to promote and support reading and literacy for people across the generations in and around Malvern.
It works with young people and families via The Cube in Malvern and Riverboats Children’s Centre in Upton-upon-Severn to share the joy of reading and the power of literature.
Tracy Kelly-Freer, from Malvern Book Co-operative, said she was delighted to be on the judging panel.
Visit malvernhills.gov.uk/poetry-winners to read the winning poems.
