I Am the Universe - the winners

The Poetry Society has been working with the University of Leeds and poet Helen Mort to create the project, which encourages young people to create poetry responding to climate change.

I Am the Universe – the winners
The Young Poets Network announces the winners of its latest writing challenge on responding to climate change
The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network has been working with the University of Leeds and poet Helen Mort, who previously held the Douglas Caster Fellowship in the School of English,  to create the I Am the Universe project, which encourages young people to create poetry responding to climate change.

Working with ideas and landscape images sourced from a wide range of contemporary and historic artists, Helen Mort created a layered poetry challenge for young writers up to the age of 25, asking them to consider their place in the world and explore ideas of strange and familiar places, shifting territories, and our collective and individual responsibilities towards our planet. In response, we received over 200 brilliant, searching, beautiful poems from young people all over the world.

We are delighted to now announce the winning poets, who between them have produced ten stunning and urgent pieces of writing on our current environmental crisis.

1st prize: 'Inverie' by Abby Meyer

2nd prize: 'They Came For The Shale' by James Tierney

3rd prize: 'Early April Heatwave' by Natalie Thomas

Highly commended

'Eskerdale Green' by Hero Bain

'My Hurricane' by Jamie Hancock

'La Fortuna, Costa Rica' by Katherine Liu

'demure' by Amelie Maurice-Jones

'how to be an ocean' by Ella Standage

'In Thanks' by Rosa Walling-Wefelmeyer

'Richness' Jacob Wright

All ten winning poems are published in full on the Young Poets Network website: youngpoetsnetwork.org.uk