Winners celebrate Rotary poetry competition success

The Rotary Club of Chichester has hosted its ninth annual poetry competition awards.

The presentation ceremony was held at Chichester’s Assembly Rooms in the presence of the Mayor of Chichester, Peter Budge, who also presented the prizes.

The adjudicating judge of the competition was David Swan, of the University of Chichester, and the organiser of the event was Cliff Hughes from the Rotary Club of Chichester. .

More than a hundred young people entered the competition.The winning children attending received their prizes along with parents and teachers.

David Swan, who acted as poetry judge, said: “The successful young people had reached an absolutely amazing standard of imagination and should all be truly proud of the work they had produced. The competition demonstrated the high level of creative writing achieved by the young people of the Chichester area. They thoroughly deserved their awards.”

The prize winners in the five to seven age category were Jonathan Roe Dos Santos from Oakwood School, who took home first prize, Adam Shepherd from Fishbourne Primary School, who was awarded second prize, and Grace Pack from Kingsham Primary School, who came in third. In the eight to 11 age category, Poppy Hawkins of Chichester High School came first, Maria Gotheridge from Oakwood School placed second, and third place was won jointly by Jazmin Brewin and Jamel Jallow, both from Chichester High School.

In the 12-15 age category, first place went to Madison Egington and second place went to Alfie Maidment (both from Chichester High School), and Naomi Elliott from Bishop Luffa School came joint third with Tomas Riley of Chichester High School.

The special prize for Overall Best Philosophical Poem went to Worth Abbey School’s Gabriel Wishart, and the special prize for Overall Funniest Poem went to Kieran Jones from Chichester High School. Ava Hampson of Oakwood School won the Overall Best Very Short Poem.

The competition was sponsored by The Trefoil Trust, John Wiley and Sons, Woods Travel and Waterstones Booksellers.

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