In preparation for World Poetry Day, we organised a Poetry competition as a joint project with King Edward’s School, Birmingham, UK.

We invited learners to write a poem for World Poetry Day, and our English teachers studied the submissions and picked the best in each grade. Colleagues in the English department at King Edward’s School in Birmingham, UK, then selected the three winners.

They chose a poem by Universe Phiri, in Grade 9, as the school’s overall winner. Here are the Judges’ comments:

This is an incredibly powerful and poignant poem about oppression and injustice. The way Universe uses end-stopped lines in the second half of stanza three reflects the barriers and restrictions she captures so movingly in the second half of the poem. As judges, we found this poem so powerful we could not help but feel outraged, distressed and heart-broken after reading it.

Later this year, we will reciprocate when King Edward’s School organises a poetry competition for its secondary learners and we will have the privilege of choosing, and commenting on, their best poems.

The photo is Universe receiving her prize on World Poetry Day from Ms Sakuwaha.