Poetry prizes for two students

Pupils in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders got creative for a writing competition as part of this year’s Berwick Literary Festival senior schools’ project.
Jennifer Heald and Joan Montgomery congratulate the prize-winning students.Jennifer Heald and Joan Montgomery congratulate the prize-winning students.
Jennifer Heald and Joan Montgomery congratulate the prize-winning students.

And just before the end of term, two students from Berwick Academy received prizes for their winning entries.

The ‘Radius 2021 Project’ for Years 7 to 10 asked pupils to make a short video and write a poem about a special place within a 21-mile radius of Berwick.

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Year 10 Academy student Xixin Chen took some beautiful footage of Berwick scenes for her poem ‘The Alley’ and Ronan Mackenzie, in Year 9, composed a short poem ‘The Football in the Field’ to reflect his thoughts on his favourite football pitch.

Jennifer Heald and Joan Montgomery, from the festival steering group, visited the school to congratulate the winners and award their prizes.

English teacher Soenem Wahid was delighted that the students took part in the project and accepted a prize of £250 from the festival, to be spent on fiction and poetry for the school’s library.

A short film incorporating the videos and writing from the winning entries can be found on the festival’s YouTube channel.

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The festival’s programme for younger children this year was in two online events. Children’s poet Joseph Coelho ran two sessions for all first schools in the Berwick Partnership – this included asking pupils to do their own poems.

A follow-up online event took place recently to hear a selection of the children’s poems, set to film by schools programme lead Colin Fleetwood.