Budding poet Molly wins top prize

A BUDDING RGS poet was delighted to win first prize in a prestigious competition, despite being one of the youngest entrants.

Up against competitors aged up to 18 years old, Molly Hall was only 12 when she wrote her poem The Waiting Tree, which features in the Ripon Poetry Festival’s latest anthology.

Inspired by a walk through her local woods in Ripon, her poem deals with growing up, changes and what will happen in the future as she reflects on what a long life trees have compared to humans.

She won the 12-18 age category prize in the seventh annual festival competition, with Ruby Fielding and Eloise Chadwick Pywell winning second and third prizes.

This year, Molly, whose poems have been published in every festival anthology since 2017, was also asked to be a judge for the under-11 category this year, which was interesting, she says.

The 13-year-old, who aspires to work in veterinary surgery or medicine and enjoys surfing and swimming, began writing poetry when she was six years old and her favourite authors are Michael Morpurgo and JK Rowling.

The 2024 anthology, titled Are You Listening?, contains the best of the entries by young people to the festival, which this year featured readings and performances by writers including Kate Fox, Marilyn Longstaff and Khadijah Ibrahim in addition to workshops, open mic night and book launches.

In 2019 Molly won first and third prizes in the under-11 category and in 2022 she won third prize in the under-11 category.