Tiny Poems Competition Winners 2024/25 

We’re excited to announce the winners of our first ever Tiny Poems Competition – for poems of five lines or fewer.

Participation was high, with 231 young writers taking part.

This year’s judges were Jay Bhadricha, First Story alumni and Head of Programmes at Forward Arts Foundation; John McAuliffe, Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester; and Leeds-based poet and member of the Writing Squad Tallulah Howarth. They were very impressed by the entries. Tallulah shares a thank you to all who entered below.

The winners and highly commended will each receive poetry books and a certificate. We are delighted to be able to share this year’s winner, national finalists and highly commended entries, along with commentary from judge Jay Bhadricha.

And the winner is…

Our intriguing winning entry ‘Sustenance’ was written by Sophie Gresham from Holland Park School in London.

This does what all great writing does – leaves enough space for the reader to fill. I’m left wondering who the ‘you’ in the poem is and what their relationship is to the speaker of the poem. Plus, it’s such a brilliant mix of ideas put alongside one another: ‘glue’ and ‘cave’; ‘heart’ and ‘flower’ and that killer last line ‘Must I always eat from your hands?’ – you’re left questioning what sustenance is.

National Finalists

Highly Commended

The judges awarded Highly Commended to the following:

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We’d like to thank everyone who entered, along with the teachers, writers and our three judges who supported the competition.