Attended by young people from all corners of the country, the Grand Finale of Poetry By Heart, the national poetry speaking competition for schools, took place at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on Monday 26 June 2023. It was a day in which ‘poetry wasn’t just lifted off the page, it was blasted off’, says co-founder Dr Julie Blake.

It is ten years since then Poet Laureate Andrew Motion set up Poetry By Heart with Blake and it has become hugely popular in schools. The competition invites young people to choose a poem, learn it by heart and perform it aloud. This year saw the biggest ever response: 2,000 video entries of poetry performances; 90,000 young people involved; a staggering 39,000 poems learned by heart.

Sir Andrew Motion was present at The Globe for the celebrations and congratulated all the young people taking part for learning the poems and performing them with such confidence. ‘Learning poetry by heart is both serious and fun: an excitement and a dare,’ he said. ‘It is about understanding and remembering the deep recurring truths about our experience as humans, in terms that are especially beautiful and resonant.’

The four Poetry By Heart National Champions 2023 are:

Mohamed Ali Khanafer of Pimlico Primary, London is the winner in the Classic Competion KS2. Mohamed performed Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, ‘an extraordinarily ambitious choice’, said the judges, who praised the control, stillness and intensity of his delivery. ‘Hearing this well-known poem in the voice of such a young speaker refreshed it and made it new.’

Taygan Van Der Klashorst of Durham Johnston Comprehensive School, County Durham is winner in the Classic Competition KS3. The judges said, ‘Taygan gave a captivating performance of Edwin Morgan’s ‘Hyena’ and communicated the menace as well as the humour of the poem. He totally inhabited the character and had the proverbial hairs standing up on the back of our necks.’

Edgar Reader of Framlingham College, Ipswich is winner in the Classic Competition KS4 Edgar won for his clear, resonant and unsettling rendition of W H Davies’s eerie poem ‘The Inquest’. ‘Edgar’s sensitive reading made excellent choices on character, pace and meaning, and left us with an enthralling sense of madness and mystery’, said the judges.

The judges found it very difficult to select the winner of the Classic Competition KS5 and because of this want to give special mention to Ethan Brown of the Queen Katherine School, Kendal and Nate Chatterly of Aylesbury Grammar School. Their winner though is Ethan Speed of Shaftesbury School, Dorset for his performance of ‘The Beast in the Space’ by W.S. Graham. ‘We found this performance a complete delight’, said the judges. ‘It captured the surrealism and playfulness of the poem, was gripping and nuanced, well-paced and pitch perfect in delivery.’

The judges were Poetry By Heart Poet Advisor, Daljit Nagra and poets Patience Agbabi, Liz Berry, Valerie Bloom, Jean Sprackland and Glyn Maxwell.

Special Awards:

There were special awards too for Lovelace Primary School, London for the consummate way they ran the competition, creating a template that schools everywhere can use, and for Lichfield Cathedral School, Staffordshire. To make a Ukrainian student at the school feel at home, a group of pupils learned the poem ‘Mamo, yde vzhe zyma’ (‘Mother it's Already Winter’) by Ukrainian poet Lesia Ukrayink, performing it on stage at The Globe in Ukrainian. They also learned how to sign the poem in BSL.

Freestyle category:

Also taking to the stage were young people who impressed the Poetry By Heart judging team in the Freestyle category, which encourages paired or group performances. The Kingfishers from Riverside Primary School Merseyside brought the audience to its feet with their Shakespeare Medley; Isaac, Miracle and Garry aka the History Boyz of West Bromwich Collegiate Academy set John Agard’s ‘Checking Out Me History’ to music; while Sienna of Richard Rose Central Academy, Carlisle performed her own poem ‘Life’. ‘We love the creativity and energy of these Freestyle performances’ says Julie Blake, ‘and selected some really fantastic ones to showcase here at the Grand Finale.’

‘Today has been an unforgettable experience’ she adds, ‘a living breathing anthology of poems old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, performed by phenomenally talented young people. Huge congratulations to our new Poetry By Heart champions but everyone who took part should be incredibly proud of themselves for their achievement. They’re all winners because they all now have a poem in their heart.’

In addition to celebrating the achievements of all those who entered, Poetry By Heart is proud to announce that 92% of teachers surveyed about the 2023 competition report participation increased pupil confidence in studying and engaging with poetry.

The 2024 Poetry By Heart competition will launch on this year’s National Poetry Day, 5 October 2023 with another poetry extravaganza at The Globe.

Sir Andrew Motion, Professor Daljit Nagra and Julie Blake are available for interview.

For further information contact info@poetrybyheart.org.uk Tel: 0117 905 5338 Press enquiries to Andrea Reece andrea@poetrybyheart.org.uk Tel: 07807893369

About Poetry By Heart:

Poetry by Heart is a national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges in England. It’s also a website for teaching and learning about poetry – by heart and out loud, and with plenty of choice for young people to explore poems and find the ones they love.

Taking part in Poetry By Heart is all about developing confidence with poetry in an enjoyable, accessible and engaging way. Registration, participation and competition entry are free for schools and colleges in England.

85% of teachers surveyed about the 2023 competition report participation increased teacher knowledge and confidence in the teaching of poetry.

92% of teachers surveyed about the 2023 competition report participation increased pupil confidence in studying and engaging with poetry.

Poetry By Heart is funded with the support of the Department for Education

How Poetry By Heart has been developed:

Between 2013 and 2016 Poetry By Heart was the principal educational initiative of The Poetry Archive, developed with The Full English and supported by the Department for Education. It was co-founded by Andrew Motion (Co- Director of The Poetry Archive) and Dr Julie Blake (Co-Director of The Full English and Education Director of The Poetry Archive) in February 2012. Since 2016 Poetry by Heart has been directed by The Full English.

Since 2019 the direction of Poetry By Heart has been supported by the Poetry By Heart consortium. The organisations which make up the Poetry By Heart consortium are Homerton College University of Cambridge, the Poetry Society, the English Association, CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education), Shakespeare’s Globe, Oxford English Dictionary and NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English). They all have a commitment to promoting opportunities for children and young people to have deep engagement with literature, and in particular poetry. They all believe in promoting access to poetry not only for its own sake but because of its life enhancing potential.

Sir Andrew Motion was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009 and is co-founder of the online Poetry Archive and Poetry By Heart. In 2015 he was appointed Homewood Professor in the Arts at Johns Hopkins University in the USA.