Competition-winner, 11, opens Latitude with poem

Anna had a great crowd at the Waterfront stage to officially open the festival

An 11-year-old opened the Latitude Festival after winning a competition with a poem about the environment.

Anna, who lives near Lavenham, read The Mother Tree on the Waterfront stage in Henham Park, Suffolk.

She said: "It was fun, I enjoyed it. I wasn't really that nervous."

Her festival experience was also filmed by the BBC's Newsround programme.

• Watch Anna perform via BBC Suffolk's Facebook page

BBC Radio Suffolk's Sarah Lilley, Anna and festival director Melvin Benn opened the festival on the Waterfront stage.

Anna's family joined crowds to watch the performance.

Her English teacher, Julia Rivington, from Old Buckenham Hall, also came alone to support her.

She said: "I was super proud of her. I've seen Anna perform before, so I knew she'd be excellent."

She was introduced on stage by festival director Melvin Benn and BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Sarah Lilley.

Ms Lilley said: " What an amazing opportunity for a young person."

Mr Benn told BBC Radio Suffolk he had big ambitions for including more young voices at Latitude.

"Words are really important to the festival, with singer songwriters, authors and poetry, but it's taken me 18 years to think we should have a young poets competition.

"Kids have become such a fundamental part of Latitude, so I talked to the BBC, and they were really enthusiastic.

"We've started with Suffolk this year and hopefully next year it'll be for the whole of East Anglia.

"Fingers crossed for 2026, which will be our 20th anniversary, we can make it a national competition which would be amazing... but entirely dependent on yourselves at the BBC to do that."

Anna was filmed by the BBC's Newsround

The Latitude Festival runs until Sunday.