Winning Poems

First prize

Colette Sensier, Varndean College

Second prize

Alice Malin, Shrewsbury Sixth Form College

Third prize

Alice Alexandre, The Godolphin and Latymer School

Runners-up

David Devanny, Bradford Grammar School
Charlotte Geater, Westbourne High School
Julia Rampen, James Gillespie’s High School

Press Release and Photographs

Tower Poetry builds on success as top young UK poet scoops £3,000 first prize

The UK’s most valuable poetry prize for young people has been won by Colette Sensier of Varndean College, Brighton. Her poem, ‘Country House Communion’, secured the £3,000 Christopher Tower Poetry Prize in the face of strong competition this year from an impressive number of aspiring poets.  Now in its sixth year, the Christopher Tower poetry competition is one of the most prestigious poetry competitions in the UK, with a reputation for discovering fresh and exciting poetry talent. It plays a major part in encouraging young adults to write and develop their poetry skills, and receives strong support from hundreds of schools and colleges.

The judges this year were Carol Rumens, Mark Ford and Peter McDonald, and the competition theme of ‘A Building’ inspired entrants to write some powerful poetry using a wide range of forms and styles. At a reception for the prize winners at Christ Church, Dr Peter McDonald, the college’s Christopher Tower Student and Tutor in Poetry, praised the formal control and variety of all the winning poems, and spoke of how “once again the Tower Prizes have shown that young people can write poems of startling intelligence and originality, with the kinds of creative independence too often lacking in contemporary British poetry.”

Seventeen year-old Colette Sensier received her prize, as well as a prize for her school, from the competition judges. The winner of the £1000 second prize is Alice Malin (17) from Shrewsbury VI Form College, while the £500 third prize goes to Alice Alexandre (17) who attends The Godolphin and Latymer School in London.

The other highly commended winners, who each receive £200, are: David Devanny (17) of Bradford Grammar School, Charlotte Geater (16) of Westbourne High School, Ipswich, and Julia Rampen (17) of James Gillespie’s High School, Edinburgh.

The Christopher Tower competition is just one of the projects developed by Tower Poetry to encourage and sustain the writing and reading of poetry by young adults in the UK. Tower Poetry also plans to develop its role in education through a number of exciting initiatives over the coming year, and information on these will be posted on this website.

Photographs of the prize-giving at Christ Church, Oxford

Display a poster

Download A4 poster of 'A Building' (119kb)