Pound a poem

In September 2006 with the support of the Pears Foundation, Pound a Poem, a national schools poetry competition designed to focus on three key areas: healthy eating, literacy and citizenship, was launched. Children aged seven to 11 in schools across the country were asked to write poems about fruit and vegetables to help educate children as early as possible about the benefits of healthy eating.

Every child donated £1 for every poem they entered into the competition, raising vital funds for research into the cancers that affect children. We had an incredible response from schools nationwide, resulting in over 20,000 entries. The standard of the poetry was incredibly high; children really let their imaginations run riot.

Pound a Poem received some fantastic support from a number of well-known personalities who also made up the panel of judges for the competition, including author and Children’s Laureate, Jacqueline Wilson, children’s favourite Dom Wood from BBC’s Dick & Dom, children’s comedian James Campbell and nutritionist, Annabel Karmel.

The winning poems

It wasn’t an easy decision but after much deliberation, the following children were chosen:

Overall winner

Edward Dutton, Manor Lodge, Hertfordshire, Year 3

Runners-up

Imogen Edwards-Lawrence, Putney High School, London, Year 4

Rem Coppuck-Cudd, Cokethorpe School, Oxfordshire, Year 5

Anne-Marie Ikegwuru, Brunswick Park Primary School, London, Year 6

Listen now to Edward's poem	Listen now to Imogen's poem
Listen now to Anne-Marie's poem	Listen now to Rem's poem

Congratulations to all the winners and the 64 semi-finalists.

Pound a Poem book - out now!

You can now buy the Pound a Poem book, published by Blake Publishing, price £9.99, and support Cancer Research UK. The book contains all of the winners' and finalists' poems alongside poems from some of their favourite personalities.

Many thanks to Vocal Heroes Ltd for their generosity in providing their services for free and recording all the winners poems.