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
The First World War
Carmel College
Aged 12
Nobody saw you the way I did
Carmel College, Darlington
Aged 17
World at War
Carmel College
Aged 11
Trench Warfare
Carmel College
Aged 11
The Battle Goes On
Carmel College
Aged 11
Buried Deep Underground
Carmel College
Aged 13
Always Remember
Carmel College
Aged 13
Why did it begin?
Carmel College
Aged 17
Reborn
Sedgefield Community Collage
Aged 13
The Christmas Day Truce
Carmel College
Aged 11
Trench Life
Carmel College
Aged 12
Battlefield
Carmel College
Aged 16
Sleeping Alone
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 12
We cant stop the war
sedgefeild community collage
Aged 12
The War Game
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 12
woeld war 1
shotton hall academy
Aged 13
My Boots
Carmel RC College
Aged 17
Bang Bang
sedgefield community college
Aged 12
WW1
Sedgefield community college
Aged 12
Men fall to their knees, not war
Sedgefield Community College
Aged 13