A MONMOUTHSHIRE schoolboy has been named as the Wales winner of a new poetry competition open to schools in England and Wales.

Brecon, 10, a pupil at Shirenewton Primary School in Shirenewton, scooped success with his poem, A Creative Comeback, which was chosen as the winner for Wales in the Key Stage 2 age group in the inaugural Premier League Writing Stars competition.

The poem about learning to play football by practicing day in and day out at the park was selected by an all-star judging panel, which featured former professional footballer and children’s author Frank Lampard OBE, Premier League footballer and lyricist Yannick Bolasie, children’s laureate Lauren Child and the young people’s laureate for London Caleb Femi, overseen by the National Literacy Trust Director, Jonathan Douglas.

Commenting on Brecon’s poem, Caleb Femi said: “I’ve really enjoyed Brecon’s rap, I thought it was inspirational, I loved the rhythm of it and it’s exactly what we were looking for in terms of resilience, in terms of determination and in terms of perseverance."

More than 25,000 children from England and Wales entered the competition with their own original poetry submissions.

From the 25,200 poems received, nine regional winners and one national winner have been selected across two age groups, Key Stage 1 (5-7 years) and Key Stage 2 (7-11 years), with the poems being judged on their originality, effect, tone and message.

The winning poems will now be published in a special Writing Stars poetry book due to be released later this year.

Other prizes include author-led writing workshops and Premier League trophy school visits, as well as winning poems being read aloud by football stars.

Premier League Writing Stars launched in September 2017 for children aged five to 11 with the aim of encouraging them to try their hand at creative writing.

Inspired by the William Hickson poem ‘Try, Try Again’, the competition asked school children to write around the theme of resilience in any poetic form, including a rap or song lyrics.

The competition was supported by the National Literacy Trust and is part of the Premier League Primary Stars education programme, which has already engaged more than 12,000 primary schools and 13,000 teachers across England and Wales.

Visit plprimarystars.com to find out how your school can be involved with Premier League Primary Stars.