Congratulations to Anvesha in Year 4 who won the GDST Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize in the Year 3 and 4 category for her poem The Magic Box. 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 Sydenham High School alumna Claudia Daventry. Claudia’s poetry and essays have been widely published in reviews, anthologies and poetry magazines, and she has won several prizes, including first place in the Bridport Prize
“I’m delighted to have been asked to judge the GDST poetry competition for a second year running.
Anvesha’s Magic Box, with its green bunny and the blue skin of a witch … was surprising and inventive: my own personal favourite line In the corners its hinges are the fingers of former enemies – who doesn’t want a box like that? A memorable winner.” Claudia Daventry, Writer
The Magic Box by Anvesha, Year 4
I will put in my box
The glistening eye of a unicorn,
A touch from a scaly baby snake,
The soft white froth from a swooshing waterfall
I will put in my box
The excitement from a teenager’s first kiss,
A toddler chasing a little grey sparrow,
A little green bunny singing softly
I will put in my box
The hair from a dead soul,
A mix of emotions,
A blue skinned witch
My box is fashioned from elephant tusks
And pieces of gold and silk with stars
On the lid are dreams
In the corners its hinges are fingers of former enemies
I shall dream in my box of the savannah and then I shall swim in my box in the colours of LIFE.