King’s student commended in UK’s most valuable poetry prize

We are very proud of Magdalena Bone (5LES) who was recently invited to Oxford to receive a £500 prize for her entry in a UK-wide poetry competition organised by one of the university’s colleges.

With a total prize fund of more than £14,000, The Christopher Tower Poetry Competition is the most valuable prize available to young poets in the UK. 

The competition is organised by Christ Church and is always given a theme that can be widely interpreted by the entrants. 

This year’s theme was “Mirror” and Magdalena submitted her poem, entitled 9.12am. 

The 2024 judges were renowned poets Jane Yeh and Will Harris, and Christopher Tower Student, Mishtooni Bose. Out of 1,750 entries from 16 – 18 year-olds around the country, Magdalena’s poem was judged to be one of the thirteen top prize-winning poems, gaining a commendation and a £500 prize.

Chris Tomkins is Magdalena’s English teacher.

He said: “I am really proud that Mag’s poem was chosen as one of the winning entries into the Tower Poetry competition.

“Her poem is a highly creative and thoughtful response to the theme of ‘mirror’, which was selected as a writing stimulus for the competition this year. Mags is an outstanding student of English, and I am delighted that her talent and hard work have been recognised by the distinguished judges at Christ Church, Oxford. 

“I hope that Mag’s achievement will inspire even more students at King’s to enter competitions like this. Not only do they give students an opportunity to think creatively and express themselves in different ways, they also demonstrate a deeper interest in their subject, which is often so important when applying to top universities.”

Click on this link to read more about the competition, and to read all of this year’s winning entries.