Hundreds of pupils entered the Kids Verse poetry competition, and judge Carol Ann Duffy - author of The World's Wife and one of the poems on the GCSE syllabus - had a tough job picking the winners.

The Daily Echo will be in touch with the winners and their schools shortly, and soon we will be printing as many of the poems as possible in a special supplement, along with a full assessment by the judge. We're proud to have discovered so much writing talent among our schools, and we know you'll enjoy reading the winning poems.

In judging the competition Carol said: "What makes a good poem? Someone once said that a good poem adds itself to the world. So a good poem is a plus - a way of seeing that wasn't there before; a handful of words made into a net to capture a feeling; a jingly joke.

"Judging this competition has given me great pleasure, not least because of the obvious enthusiasm teachers in local schools have taken in participating.

"Many entries were undertaken with great gusto as class projects. Sometimes well-known contemporary poems were used as models and this is how young poets learn - by reading poetry and by following its example. In doing this, the young poet - like the trapeze artist protected by the safety-net - can dare to leap. The winning poems in each of three categories have been written by young writers who have dared to perform that leap.

"In judging this competition, I was struck particularly by the confidence of the very young age group and this seemed to suggest that poetry is a bug best caught early. Young writers have no fear of their own imaginations, no coyness about silliness or nonsense, no self-consciousness about feelings and in this sense they are natural poets. The older children who retain this fearlessness and enthusiasm write the best poems and I suppose those of us who lose it write, or even read, no poems at all. We should be thankful, then, that there are clearly such good teachers at work today and that their enthusiasm for contemporary poetry, passed on to their young pupils, is adding something to the world."

Under-nine age group:

First prize: What is the Moon, Nathan Oakley, Sinclair School

Second prize: Age, Fahad Siddiqui, Highfield CE School

Third Prize: My Beautiful Fishtank, Laura James, Highfield CE School

Highly Commended: Tilley Tickets, Katrina Bennett, St Francis CE School, and I Saw a Hedgehog, Thea MacDonald, St Faith's CE School

Nine-12 age group:

First Prize: Fire, Lauren Barefield, Eggart School

Second Prize: Cat, Becky Henderson, St James CE School

Third Prize: How Many People Must Die?, Rhiannon Bennet, Orchard Junior School

Highly Commended: The Sounds in The Morning, Ellen Watts, Abbotswood School, and Valley of Love, Terry, Broughton Primary School

13-16 age group:

First Prize: First Rain, James Waldron, Gregg School

Second Prize: Something, Elizabeth Stainton, Robert Mays School

Third Prize: Walking in Scotland, Tom Sheppard, Thornden School

Special Commendation: The Poet, Andi Foster, Mountbatten School.