Jack is national Poetry Aloud winner

Massive congratulations to De La Salle College, Belfast Year 9 student Jack, who was crowned Poetry Aloud’s Junior champion in this year’s competition.

The Poetry Aloud competition is an annual poetry speaking contest, open to all post-primary students on the island of Ireland.

Twenty-two students met in the incredible setting of the National Library reading room in Dublin to compete in the finals last week.

Each finalist had made their way through two previous rounds of the competition - and with over 300 entries, they truly showed themselves to be the cream of the crop. 

Jack lifted the award amid stiff competition in the Junior category. He won the title after reciting two poems – ‘The Gift of Time’ by Tony Curtis and ‘Watch Your Step, I’m Drenched’ by Adrian Mitchell.

Jack was presented with his prize - a cheque for €300 and €400 worth of book tokens for the school - by Michael Tient, one of the judges and a previous winner of the award in 2019. 

This is a fantastic achievement for Jack, and we are all very proud of him and his amazing success.