Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2026
We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievement of Year 9 pupil Amna, who has been recognised in the prestigious Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2026, one of the world’s leading poetry competitions for young writers.
Organised by The Poetry Society, the annual competition celebrates the creativity, imagination and literary talent of young people aged 11 to 17, providing a platform for the next generation of poets to share their voices and develop their writing.
This year’s competition attracted an incredible 11,798 poems from 10,598 young writers across 153 countries, including entries from as far afield as Mexico, India and Australia as well as from every postcode in the UK! From thousands of submissions, just 100 young poets were selected for recognition. Amna was then selected as one of the 15 top winners making her achievement all the more impressive.
The winners were announced at a special celebration held at the British Library in London, bringing together young poets, their families, teachers and leading figures from the literary world to recognise the exceptional talent of this year’s entrants.
Judged by acclaimed poets John McAuliffe and Rachel Long, the competition showcased an extraordinary breadth of creativity, with poems exploring themes ranging from family, friendship and cultural heritage to the natural world and contemporary society. The judges praised the young writers for their originality, imagination, fearlessness and remarkable ability to capture the world around them through poetry.
Reflecting on the quality of the submissions, fellow judge and acclaimed poet, Rachel Long, was in awe of these
young poets:
“John and I were bowled over by the sheer talent: the range, skill, and imagination of these poems…It was a privilege to journey through poems that were fantastical, fearless, Feminist, irreverent; poems about lineage, family, the body, friendship, whales, spiders, rats, blinis! – prose poems, retributions, eulogies, liturgies. I am in awe of all these young poets, and it fills me with a lot of hope for the future of poetry.”
As one of this year’s successful young poets, Amna will receive a year’s youth membership of The Poetry Society, alongside opportunities for further mentoring and creative development. The award has a proud history of recognising emerging literary talent, with many former winners going on to become celebrated published poets.
We are incredibly proud of Amna for this wonderful achievement, which is a testament to her creativity, dedication and passion for writing.
Congratulations on this exceptional achievement!