This afternoon, the Betjeman Poetry Prize 2018 was announced at St Pancras Station. The prize is for poets aged 10-13 years old and all the poems were impressive. The theme for the poems is Place. This year’s winner is Ide Crawford (aged 12) whose poem The Moors stood out to me from all the poems read by the finalists. She read her poem so well too. I also especially liked the first poem read by Sadhbh Barclay Ni Dhaighre who read his in Irish Gaelic and English: “And in that valley, there is a little yellow house, and my heart is in that house.” And he travelled all the way from Ireland to read it in the middle of a busy train station with blaring announcements and the Eurostar screeching to a stop next to the stage. Remember: if you notice anything unusual, report it to a member of staff.

The winner is the girl standing with the big smile on her face.