National poetry competition success for St Mary’s students

Two St Mary’s pupils are celebrating academic success after winning first and second place in a national poetry competition run by the Catholic Independent Schools Conference (CISC).

The poetry challenge was open to students from CISC schools across the country. To encourage imaginative engagement, the theme this year was ‘Growing Up’.  There were two age categories to enter, including Junior (up to and including Year 8) and Senior (Year 9 onwards). Entries could be written in any style, but not exceed more than 20 lines. The submissions were then reviewed and judged by the Secretariat. 

Emma B. (Year 12) was awarded first prize in the senior section of the competition, for her poem, Not Yet. Her entry was praised by the judges as having “an honesty that’s beguiling and with a few choice words she skilfully paints a vignette of different stages of life”.

In addition, Eloise S. (Year 9) received second prize in the senior category for her poetry submission, Growing up. Her submission was described as a “powerful and immediate piece of writing that explores the emotional landscape of growing up and concludes with a question that is searing in its honesty.”

Both students received book tokens and certificates for their fantastic achievements. Well done girls!