National Poetry Day competition prize giving

Home > News and Events > News - release archive > 2008 > January

Talented school children from across Renfrewshire collected their prizes for the annual Renfrewshire Libraries National Poetry Day competition on Tuesday 22 January at a special ceremony at Paisley Central Library.

The five winners were chosen from a total of 151 entries from 10 primary schools after the fifth annual competition was launched in October 2007.

The theme of the competition was 'Dreams' with young entrants encouraged to use poetry to describe their hopes for the future.

Libraries Manager, John Laurenson, said: "The National Poetry Day competition is an excellent example of schools and libraries working together to support the creativity of young people in Renfrewshire."

Competition judge, Morag Smith, literature development worker with Renfrewshire Council’s education and leisure service, said: "The partnership between our community libraries and their local primary schools has really born fruit. The standard of entries was very high and it was difficult to choose five winners. However, the winning poems all showed great originality and imagination."

The winners were:

• Holly McGrane from St John Bosco Primary in Erskine
• David Hinds from Todholm Primary in Paisley
• Shaun Ruddy from Mary Russell School in Paisley
• Paula Degnan from St Fillan’s Primary in Houston
• Natasha McLaughlin from Woodlands Primary in Linwood.

Press release: Friday 25 January 2008