Poppy prizes in national schools poetry competition

Pupils from three schools from across Scotland have won a national poetry competition, organised by Poppyscotland in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library.

Poppy Poetry is part of Sowing the Poppy seed – Poppyscotland’s education project that teaches pupils about veterans, remembrance and conflict. The competition received over 1,500 entries within the categories of P4-7, S1-3 and S4-6 and the winners are:
• Flora Smith, age 11, P7, Cargilfield School, Edinburgh - Pain
• Catrin Stephen, age 14, S2, Banchory Academy, Kincardineshire - My War
• Heather Smith, age 17, S6, Duncanrig Secondary School, East Kilbride - The Leftovers of War

Pupils were invited to write poems of between 3 and 30 lines on the theme of What is a veteran? and were encouraged to either draw on their own experiences of meeting a veteran or use one of three selected photographs and quotes from veterans as inspiration.

At a presentation in Edinburgh today (22 February), the winning pupils met former Royal Navy medic Lisa Hickie, 28, from Forfar, who served in Afghanistan and whose image was featured as part of the stimulus. The pupils were awarded a digital compact camera and their schools were given an SLR digital camera. As part of the prize, winning pupils' classes will enjoy professional poetry workshops with the Scottish Poetry Library.
 
Sowing the Poppy seed was developed by Poppyscotland and Learning and Teaching Scotland in conjunction with Determined to Succeed, Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory and the Royal British Legion Scotland. The materials include films, challenges, posters, poppy seeds and archive footage, as well as activity guides and research activities to support teachers.

To find out more about Poppy Poetry and Sowing the Poppy seed go to www.poppyscotland.org.uk/education

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