Laura Mucha has won the inaugural YorkMix Poems for Children Competition for her poem ‘Rapunzel’ [And sweet Rapunzel’s golden curls / would slowly tumble and unfurl / allowing Witch to clamber up / (occasionally getting stuck).]

The judge was Carole Bromley: “a superb, funny, original retelling of the fairy-tale. I was delighted to find it was by Laura Mucha, a brilliant children’s poet and writer whose first children’s collection will be published by Otter-Barry Books.”

Poetry Society Member Richard Carpenter was second for ‘A Diplodocus Thumbs A Lift After Being Retired From The Natural History Museum’: “that rare thing, a shape poem which is not only inventive and clever but also an excellent poem in its own right.”

Fellow Poetry Society Members Janet Dean (‘Catcall’), Michael Shann (‘Ice-cream for breakfast’), and Kate Wakeling (‘The School for Ghouls’) were Highly Commended; Society Members Jane Burn (‘Bogie Toad’), Jeremy Grant (‘Wonderland’), Shauna Darling Robertson (‘Centuries of Questionable Kings’), and Miles Salter (‘Grandad’s Going Fishing’) were Commended.

Carol:

“It felt like a very big responsibility! I couldn’t just think, Is this by someone really good, maybe someone I’ve met or heard of? I just had to stay calm and decide if I liked it, or, rather, if I thought a child would like it. If I was unsure I would show it to a child (I have thirteen grandchildren so no shortage of second opinions) before I made up my mind.”

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22 August 2019