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

Goodbye

By Natya Priestley
Carmel College
Aged 14

Bang Bang

By Joshua Peacock
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 11

The Sorrow Soldier

By Jack Cockburn
Carmel RC College
Aged 11

RIP

By James Hannan
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

Victory

By Emily Ogilvie-Donald
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

Endless War

By Milly Gower
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

Soldier

By Rio Bryant
Carmel College
Aged 11

Where Were You?

By Emma Kitson
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

My Dear

By Jakob Nichol
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

A poem about a soldier in the world war

By tyler welsh
carmel college
Aged 11

War Death

By Scott Musgrave
Carmel College
Aged 11

Muddy Trench

By Thomas McCue
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

Homesick

By Madalyn Summers
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

WW1 POEM

By Charlotte Moore
Carmel College
Aged 11

Bombs

By Ben Mennell
Polam Hall School
Aged 10

Unforgetable

By Adam Bradley Jarps
Carmel College
Aged 14

By a Hair

By Elizabeth Doyle
St Bede's Lanchester
Aged 13

Fossa Militiae

By Owen Edwards
Carmel College
Aged 14

Wishing for another chance

By Phoebe Cook
The Academy of Shotton Hall
Aged 12

The Battle of Love

By Cathy van Mourik
Carmel College
Aged 14