Well done to the five winners of the competition who will receive an R3, and the three runners-up who will receive an R2.

Have a look at the some of the work showcased here - we have included a comment from the teacher with each of the winning entries, explaining why we thought these were so good!

Well done Y10! We’re looking forward to continuing the poems with you in school - The English Department.

Winners

Emma Hancox – Remains

Using the poem as inspiration for a newspaper article was brilliantly original. Not only did you have an opportunity to display your journalistic skills, you were able to show a thorough understanding of the poet’s motivation behind the poem, the language of the poem, as well as empathising with someone who had witnessed the horrors of war and conflict. Excellent effort!

 

Friyya Kayani – ‘mind-forg’d manacles’

Your illustration really conveyed how trapped the vast majority of people would have felt in Blake’s London. The reference to imprisonment was clever.

 

Gemma Oakey – Power and Conflict

Each beautiful painting represented a key quote in the poem. The detail that you’ve been able to capture in each quotation is amazing. We particularly liked your concept for Exposure and The Charge of the Light Brigade.

 

Isabel Hancock – Remains

An original entry from this student meant that she was able to combine dance and poetry. The piece itself conveyed emotion and the internal conflict of the soldier. You thought really carefully about the whole presentation, including the selection of music where the lyrics reveal a lasting pain on an individual.

 

James Procter – ‘cold clockwork’

James’ concept was incredibly interesting. In his entry, he explained that his collage depicted the moment when a soldier realises he is just a ‘cog in a greater machine’. Each small picture represents the reality that the soldier faced – the cold, machines, celestial imagery, puppeteering, and images of WWI. These, combined, create the bigger picture – the expectation that soldiers would sign up and serve their country as one component or cog in a greater machine. “In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?” Well done, James – you had an outstanding idea.

 

Runners up

Lucy Walker – ‘the reader’s eyeballs prick with tears’

Leo Duncan – ‘released a songbird from its cage’

 

War Photographer   When times were tougher As ever before Rampant gas everywhere People couldn’t ignore Help! Help! Children screamed Overwhelming for all civilians To see their homes that were no more Obliterated into millions Guilty did the photographer feel as he Realised what he was in the midst of All he felt was sorry and sad and Praying he wouldn’t end up going mad He has a job to do though Even if it is awful. But he Realises, he is a war photographer

Ben Gray – War Photographer