Thomas Hardy Poetry Prize awarded to teenagers

The winning entries were celebrated with an awards afternoon at Hardy’s own home of Max Gate.

The six winners in the different age categories from 13 up to 18 all came from across Dorset.

The overall winner was Kitty Fisher, from Hooke near Beaminster, with her poem ‘Reading “A Wife in London’’', which judges praised for its wit, depth and poetic passion.

Runner up Leonie Cobban, from Weymouth, wrote the moving poem, ‘The Wind Watches’.

There were four poems which the judges highly commended: Aiden Phillips' ‘The Wind’, Alice Padgett’s ‘1 March 2018 2.36pm’, Eloise Cray’s ‘A Walk in the Park’ and Eve Gilmour’s ‘I’m Just a Tree’.

This is the first year the National Trust has run the competition, with the support of the Thomas Hardy Society, but it has been so successful it has pledged to turn the prize into annual event.

Dozens of entries were submitted to the three judges of the competition, from young people all over Dorset.

The judges were Dr Faysal Mikdadi, Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society, Professor Angelique Richardson of Exeter University, and musician and writer Virginia Astley. Between them they spent hours poring over the entries.

Dr Mikdadi said: “The quality of entries was stunning. These are the poets of tomorrow whose poems I fully expect to read in the future. The range and depth of the poems was remarkable.”

Rebecca Paveley, from the National Trust, said: “We hoped that the prize would inspire the young people of today, living in the landscape which Hardy loved, to try their hand at poetry.

"The competition showed us just how much talent, creativity and passion there is out there among young people.

“We are very grateful for the support of teachers and the schools who encouraged their students to enter.”

The poems will be on display at Max Gate from the end of June.

The competition will now run each year and entries for the 2020 competition will be open from November.