Poetry Slam Results

Leeds East Academy Performance Poets Storm Chapel FM event 

Leeds East Academy students were elated to discover that they had won the 'Best Line' category during the Grand Final of the Poetry Slam Competition, hosted live on-air at local radio station Chapel FM.

The White Rose Academies Trust Poetry Slam Final was broadcast on 30th March, with students from Leeds City Academy and Leeds West Academy going head-to-head with Leeds East Academy in a battle of words, competing for a variety of prizes.

The Academy was thrilled to work once again with the highly-acclaimed poet, BBC Radio 1 broadcaster and lead singer of Middleman, Andy Craven-Griffiths, who has been developing performance material with students at school and during a Poetry Slam Bootcamp earlier in the year.

Over 300 members of the public tuned in for the broadcast and were invited to post comments and feedback via Twitter and Chapel FM's website. Judges Adam Robinson (playwright extraordinaire), Paul Dunphy (BBC Radio Leeds presenter) and Executive Principal Mr Whitaker tackled the difficult task of selecting a winner for each of the three categories.

The final results were:

Leeds City Academy, overall winners with their poem Elder Siblings.

Leeds West Academy awarded the trophy for 'Best Performance' with the poem The Life of a Pen.

Leeds East Academy awarded the trophy for 'Best Line' with their poem The Candle.

The judges commented: "The quality of the work is absolutely inspiring this year," and "the standard has gone up each year." Mr Whitaker added: "There are definitely performers who could do this professionally and that "White Rose Rocks!"

Mr Stokes said: "Well done to all of our very talented poets. Following our work with First Story and Andy Craven-Griffiths, Leeds East Academy is becoming a thriving school for creative writing. Whilst I am, of course, disappointed that our sterling performers didn't come first this year, I am delighted that The Candle won 'Best Line'. Congratulations to Leeds City Academy on their triumph and also to Leeds West Academy for an equally superb performance."

Missed the show? Catch it again on Chapel FM's website here. You can see Andy performing his own material on his website at www.andypoetry.com.