Congratulations to Emily in Year 2 for receiving high commendation in the GDST Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize (Year 1 and 2 category) for her poem The Lost Cub. Her fantastic poem can be read below.
The GDST Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize is one of the GDST’s longest-running and most prestigious inter-school prizes. It was established in memory of Laurie Magnus by his widow. Laurie Magnus was a GDST Council member from 1907, and Chairman from 1929 until his death in 1933. He also wrote The Jubilee Book of the Girls’ Day School Trust (1923).
This year, the poems were judged by Newcastle High School for Girls alumna, Sophia Blackwell. A performance poet, published poet and novelist, Sophia Blackwell’s most recent book, The Poetry Writers’ Handbook, was published by Bloomsbury in Autumn 2022. She has performed at Glastonbury, Women of the World (WOW) Festival and headlined a national tour with Hammer and Tongue. Sophia is also a radio arts journalist, freelance editor, former Chair of Poetry London, and has taught workshops and lectured across the UK, most recently for Falmouth University. Her spoken word piece ‘The Beau Monde’ is being played as part of the Crown to Couture exhibition at Kensington Palace until October 2023.
“I loved the use of the visual art and its constraints in Emily’s poem and the attention to detail on the panda’s shape, while managing to tell the story of the cub and its mother effectively.”
Sophia Blackwell, GDST Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize Judge
