Teen beats thousands of entrants with her poetry

Ellanya Sivasubramaniam was told she had been chosen on her way home from school

A teenager has said it feels "surreal" to have been crowned as a young poet of the year.

Ellanya Sivasubramaniam, 15, from Reading, entered this year's Foyle Young Poets competition with her poem called "The Girls Who Grow Antlers".

She was then chosen as one of the Top 15 winners out of the 28,344 poems submitted from entrants from 135 different countries.

Ms Sivasubramaniam said being one of the winners was "affirming" and she was excited to receive the honour at a ceremony with the others at the British Library in London on Wednesday.

Speaking to Radio Berkshire, she said: "Winning the Foyle Young Poets competition feels both surreal and affirming.

"I'll never forget getting the call on my way back from school, I was completely star-struck and could hardly believe it was real."

The Poetry Society announced the winners of The Young Poet of the Year 2025 competition, which was funded by The Foyle Foundation to celebrate the best poems written by young people aged 11 to 17-years-old from across the world in 2025.

Some of the entries came from young people as far afield as Botswana, Fiji, Vietnam, and Venezuela, as well as the UK.

The poems explored different subjects such as politics, painting, language and loss, as well as identity and belonging.

One of the judges, Colette Bryce, said it was an "honour" to be part of the competition.

"I commend everyone who entrusted us with their writing," she said.

The top 15 winners will receive the chance to attend a week-long residential writing course at the The Hurst, in Shropshire.

Their poems will also be published in a printed winners' anthology next spring, which will be distributed across an array of schools and libraries.

Judith Palmer, director of The Poetry Society, said she felt "privileged to be able to read their words and enjoy their skill and creativity".

The top 15 winners were:

• Eleni Barrett, 17, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey

• Rebecca Cai, 17, from Saratoga, California, USA

• Kai Campagnac,16, from Chatham, Kent

• Amira Cheung Simhani, 14, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey

• Asha Chib-Lewis,16, from Sheffield, Yorkshire

• Nathan Graham, 16, from Rotherham, Yorkshire

• Aanya Jain, 14, from Solihull, West Midlands

• Jannath, 17, from Stanmore, Middlesex

• Hayden Kennedy, 15, from Derry, Northern Ireland

• Nakshatra Kothapalli, 16, from Sugar Land, Texas, USA

• Silas Mitchell, 17, from Fleckney, Leicestershire

• Zahra Noorul Sahr Hasan, 17, from London

• Ellanya Sivasubramaniam, 15, from Reading

• Nhuomachim Umo-Chinda, 14, from London

• Bea Unwin, 17, from London