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Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, presented awards to the winners of the Ted Hughes Young Poets Competition, at the opening event of the Ted Hughes Festival.

Held in Mytholmroyd, the town of Hughes' birth, in the theatre named after him, the event marked the beginning of a week of celebrations attracting international attention to coincide with the 10th anniversary of his death. Other events included drama, music, and of course, more poetry. The youngest winners came from nearby Hebden Bridge, influenced by the same landscape that influenced Hughes' Elmet poems. They are seven year old Dualtagh Grundy, who was born in Ireland, and his six year old brother, Hugo. Dualtagh read his own poem, Picking Bilberries, while Andrew Motion read Hugo's A Town of Trees. Motion also spoke about his affection for Hughes and his poetry, and read from his own work.

Other prize winners included:

6 - 10 Years  

Ist Prize - Hugo Grundy for A Town of Trees 

Dualtagh Grundy for Picking Bilberries

Runners up - Olive Carrick for Memories (are tiny creatures ...)

11 -14 Years

1st Prize - Violet Macdonald for Melting Ice

Runners Up - Helen Greenwood for The Memory Library

Alison Holt for Memories

15-18 Years

 Ist Prize - Sophie Stephenson-Wright for On Midsummer's Eve

Runners up - Tomas Manchester for Child Soldier

Phoebe Nicholson for Photographs of my Mother

Read the winning entries!