Creative writing charity for young people

Tiny Poems Competition Winners 2025/26 

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

Judged by Kimberley Knaggs, Shaniah Shields and May Tatum from Penguin Random House, the poems chosen were a mix of poignant, nostalgic and witty. The judges were hugely impressed by the entries commenting

We’ve had the absolute joy of reading such wonderfully crafted poems as part of the Tiny Poems Competition 2026. It’s fantastic to see young people so inspired by the world around them and it was extremely difficult to choose a winner. Each poem offered a completely unique perspective, writing style and incredibly strong sense of self. Thank you to everyone who entered the competition for sharing your work with us!

You can read the judges comments on the top three winners below. The winners and highly commended will each receive Penguin poetry books, a certificate and First Story goodies.

And the winner is…

Our winning entry was written by Faisal Dualatzai from Skinners’ Academy in London.

Using deceptively simple phrases, the poet has created a rich and visceral sense of longing for the world they’ve had to leave behind. The mentions of traditional Afghan food, clothing and landscapes is beautifully evocative, contrasted with the shock of where they find themselves now. The last line is a gut-punch, perfectly capturing the feeling of cultural displacement, or perhaps misplacement.

National Finalists

2nd place
Milena Chycka, Landau Forte College, Derby

A spell-binding poem full of secrets, mystery and unresolved tension, leaving the reader wondering if it’s nostalgia or something more sinister – what is “it”? The imagery conjured is thought-provoking, the rhyming adds a lyricism that the final line breaks abruptly away from, cementing that sense of misalignment. It reads like an incantation, and that line “blood vessels cut on a timber floor” is delightfully chilling.

3rd place 
Nurcan Uzun, Cranford Community College, London

With wry humour and a wisdom beyond its years, this poem explores themes of transition and longing, with the use of speech making it feel relatable and personable. At first, “migrating?” seems like a humorous take on the old “your dog has gone to live on the farm” but with a pet fish and hired help in the form of grandparents. But the deadpan delivery of “they do that at this time of year” is both funny and so melancholic.

Highly Commended

The judges awarded Highly Commended to the following:

Harriet Lugg, Longcroft School and Sixth Form, East Yorkshire

Orissa Mahendru, Cranford Community College, London

Abdul-Rehman Aslam, Co-op Academy Grange, Bradford

We’d like to thank everyone who entered, along with the teachers, writers and Penguin Random House who supported the competition.