Phoebe Stuckes and Theophilus Kwek were shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award, which was won by Charlotte Wetton. Alongside the prize, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award programme includes a range of initiatives to encourage and enable young writers, both in school and independently. We distribute free teaching resources to every secondary school in the UK, share tips from talented teachers and arrange poet-led workshops in areas of low engagement. We also commission Foyle winners to create features and challenges for The Poetry Society’s online platform Young Poets Network. Through this work we continue to support young poets everywhere, so that there is more outstanding poetry to celebrate each year. We would like to congratulate Francesca Pridham of Winstanley College, our Teacher Trailblazer for 2017, whose school writing club produced six commended winners this year. Like many educators Francesca has supported the award since the very beginning; one of her students was even a Top 15 winner in 1998, our very first year. Finally, as we celebrate 20 years of Foyle Young Poets in 2018 we offer our thanks for the generous support of everyone who has contributed in some way and we look forward to marking many more such anniversaries with you in future.
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