The Northern Echo's Schools' Poetry Competition
The Northern Echo appealed to all secondary schools in the region to get involved and to get their pupils writing a poem to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
The war inspired some of the greatest poems in the English language and it was the current generation's turn to put their thoughts and feelings in words.
The winner, 14-year-old Olivia Skilbeck was chosen by a panel of experts and received the latest iPad. The top ten poems were included in a special edition of The Northern Echo published on Remembrance Sunday – November 9.
Click here to read Olivia's poem, Blood on the Battlefield, along with work by the other finalists.The competition, which is now closed to entries received a huge response from schools across the region and you can read their poems below.
Click on the title to read the full poem
Down the Pit
Sunnydale Community College
Aged 12
War
Sunnydale Community College
Aged 12
World War
Sunnydale Community College
Aged 11
At War
Sunnydale Community College
Aged 11
Bang !
Shotton Hall Academy
Aged 12
The Great War
Carmel College
Aged 11
Let’s Save
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 11
War
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 12
The day I lost my best friend
Carmel RC College
Aged 14
Gone Forever
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 14
Somme
Carmel RC College
Aged 12
The World War!
Carmel College
Aged 11
They Thought
St Bede's Lanchester
Aged 13
The Run
Carmel College
Aged 11
Never Forgotten
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 12
Fossa Militiae
Carmel College
Aged 14
The War
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 12
War
Polam Hall School
Aged 10
The world of war
Carmel Collage
Aged 11
We
Polam Hall School
Aged 14