By Mrs Johns (English Teacher)

Many congratulations to Annie Tadiello (Year 9) who has been selected as one of the best ten young poets in the Verve National Poetry Competition.

Annie attends my Tortured Poets Department club on Mondays, and back in the autumn, we wrote poems to enter the Verve competition. The theme of the competition was Poets and Poetry, celebrating the essence of the poetic craft and the voices behind the verses.

We explored where poets find their inspiration and experimented with different approaches to writing poems. Annie's unique creation, The ObaMitsu Poem, inspired by their interest in anime, stood out among over 300 entries in the 11–17-year-old category.

The judge, poet Hannah Lowe, was particularly impressed by Annie's creativity, and Annie has been invited to Birmingham in February to read their poem at the Verve Poetry Festival.

Read Annie’s poem, The ObaMitsu Poem here.

Congratulations once again to Annie for this outstanding achievement!