A TALENTED teenager from Hanley Castle High School has been announced as Worcestershire’s fifth Young Poet Laureate.
Ellie Courtman, 18, thrilled the judges with her poems titled ‘The Little Match Girl’ and ‘The Importance of Shakespeare’ in the annual county-wide competition.
Twelve young people made it to the final round and eleven performed two poems each in front of an audience of friends and family at the final at The Hive in Worcester on Sunday (January 17).
Ellie takes over the prestigious title from Chloe Clarke who reigned supreme at last year’s
A thrilled Ellie said: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I feel very honoured to be Young Poet Laureate, especially when I was up against such talented other young writers. I’ll try to do as good of a job as Chloe did.”
This year’s runners up were Jodie Young, 14, and Eleanor Roberts, 16, both from the Pershore area.
Judges included outgoing Young Poet Laureate, Chloe, who presented certificates to the finalists, Matt Windle ‘The Poet with Punch’ and county council arts officer Steve Wilson. The MC at the event was performance poet Spoz, aka Giovanni Esposito.
Coun Lucy Hodgson, responsible for Localism and Communities at Worcestershire County Council, said: “It is a tremendous pleasure to be involved with the Young Poet Laureate for Worcestershire 2016.
“I am continually amazed by the talents of our young people in Worcestershire, once again the standard of entries was incredible. Well done all our winners.”
Natalie McVey, from the Libraries and Learning Service, added: “I cannot explain how proud I am of our young poets. The exuberant audience were spellbound by all of the performances.
“Some made us laugh and some brought tears but all of them made us think, and enjoy the moment that we were amongst such talented young people.”
