Kim's poem of peace sees her crowned Wirral's Young Poet Laureate (From Wirral Globe)

Kim's poem of peace sees her crowned Wirral's Young Poet Laureate

11:47am Friday 8th April 2011 in News By Stephanie Cureton

A WIRRAL teenager has been crowned as the borough’s new Young Poet Laureate.

Kim Morgan from Heswall was selected from more than 600 budding poets who entered a contest in memory of local schoolboy Chris Salmon.

The West Kirby Grammar student will be officially awarded the title at a special event on Saturday night at Bromborough Civic Centre.

During the evening, the deputy Poet Laureate and competition category winners will also be revealed.

As part of her duties as Poet Laureate, 17-year-old Kim will be asked to compose poems for the inauguration of the new Mayor of Wirral and to mark Remembrance Sunday.

She will also write song lyrics for groups to interpret and perform at a special music festival.

Kim said: “I’m really excited to have won, I love writing and I’m looking forward to working on other poems through the year.”

Wirral writer and musician John Gorman visited the school yesterday to tell Kim of her achievement.

He helped to establish the Laureate contest two years ago to show the good side of Wirral’s young people.

John said: “I was fed up reading about the antics of teenagers and decided we needed to showcase all the positive things that young people do.

"This is a prestigious award, which is supported by the UK’s Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.”

Chris Salmon, a pupil at Calday Grange Grammar School in West Kirby, died in February 2009, aged 15, as a result of the streptococcal virus.

The poetry competition in his name was established as part of a joint initiative involving Wirral Libraries and the Chris Salmon Foundation, a charity set up in the youngster’s memory which aims to raise funds for research into Streptococcal infection.

The contest was open to all Wirral young people up to 18 years of age.

It was separated into three different school age groups – up to and including Year six, Years seven to 11 and Years 12 and 13 – and attracted 643 entries.

Poems had to have the theme of "Peace" and be no longer than 30 lines and 500 words.