Sampford Peverell girl in final of prestigious poetry comp

5:36pm Thursday 31st January 2008

A SEVEN-year-old girl from Sampford Peverell has beaten competition from around the world to become a finalist in a poetry competition from Arts Council England, South West.

Taylor Williams impressed the judges with her poem Nature's Numbers', a poem she wrote at school about alliteration.

Taylor said: "I am really pleased to be a finalist, I was really surprised when my mum told me when she picked me up from school today."

Taylor entered her poem in the Arts Council's Nourishment for Your Mind' poetry competition, which invited entries about nature, food and the South West.

Launched by the Arts Council as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the region's many poetry festivals and to inspire people to write their own poems, the competition had entries from all over the world, including Australia and France.

Taylor was one of three poets to become finalists from the South West.

The overall winner was Joan McGavin from Southampton, a published poet whose work has been anthologised by Peterloo Poets, the independent publisher based in Calstock, Cornwall.

Arts Council England, South West regional executive director Nick Capaldi, said: "The South West is a fertile place, both for food and for literature and we have been really impressed by the high standard of the entries we received."

Taylor attends St Margaret's school in Exeter and enjoys writing poetry in her spare time.

Her poem and those of the other finalists can be read on the Arts Council South West's website at www.artscouncil.org.uk/southwest.

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