Glasgow primary school wins national competition, beating 5 schools in final

Hillhead Primary School won the Scottish Youth Poetry Slam Live Final 2022 at Perth Theatre with their poem, Nature.

The pupils beat off stiff competition from five other Scottish primary schools to become Slam Masters 2022.

The individual winner was Primary 7 pupil, Lily Blake (aged 11) from Hillhead Primary School with her poem, ‘Don’t be in Such a Rush to Grow Up’.

The group winner was Cornton Primary School, Stirling, with their poem, ‘All the Emotions’.

The Slam was fast paced and good natured and each school represented their area and were cheered on by their teams. Individual winners received book tokens and the winning school won a Slam Masters trophy designed by Sian Mather from Project Ability - a Glasgow-based visual arts charity supporting artists with disabilities.

The Scottish Youth Poetry Slam is a bi-annual competition encouraging young people to embrace language through poetry and spoken word.

This year’s event was hosted by poet, Tawona Earnest, and drew a crowd of around 200 – including participants in the Slam and their families and guests. The crowd were entertained at the final by singer-songwriter, Siobhan Wilson.

Now in its fifth year, the project invites young people from the whole of Scotland to take part in music, poetry and performance workshops leading up to Scottish Youth Poetry Slam 2022.

Rachel McJury, project founder, Scottish Youth Poetry Slam, commented: “I’m delighted that Hillhead Primary School have become this year’s Slam Masters and well done to Lily Blake for winning the individual round and Cornton Primary School in Stirling for winning the group round.

“The standard was really high from all six schools, but the judges felt that Hillhead Primary School just pipped the others. I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who took part! We’ll be back again in 2024!”