Prep Powerful Poetry Competition 2026

Every girl, from Nursery through to Year Six, had the opportunity to take part in this exciting competition, exploring the magic of poetry, developing confidence and discovering the joy of bringing words to life. Following performances within their classes, our talented finalists took to the stage to perform in front of an enthusiastic audience.

We were absolutely delighted to welcome Lucie Burns as our guest judge. Lucie is an accomplished singer-songwriter, music producer and performance psychology coach, also known professionally as Lazy Hammock. Having written and self-produced ten albums, with music licensed to labels including Ministry of Sound, Lucie brings a wealth of experience in creativity, performance and stage presence. As the founder of Stage Ready Artists, she is passionate about helping performers develop confidence and express themselves authentically.

Lucie certainly had an incredibly difficult task! The standard of performance was exceptional, with our finalists demonstrating wonderful expression, impressive memorisation, thoughtful interpretation and tremendous courage. Choosing the winners was no easy feat and every finalist deserved enormous praise for their achievements.

We were also thrilled to welcome two of our Senior School Poet Laureates, who treated us to poetry readings. Their inspiring performances demonstrated the power of poetry and gave our younger girls something wonderful to aspire to as they continue developing their own creative voices.

The morning was filled with excitement, applause and a real appreciation of the spoken word. Although we celebrated some outstanding winners, the greatest success was seeing so many girls embrace poetry with such enthusiasm, imagination and confidence.

A huge congratulations to all our finalists and winners and a heartfelt thank you to Lucie Burns, our Senior School Poet Laureates, supportive parents and dedicated staff for making the occasion so memorable. What a fabulous celebration of poetry at EHS! We cannot wait to see where our budding poets' imaginations take them next!