A teenage poet from Cumbria has been recognised in an international competition.

Meredith Wade, 17, from Sedbergh, is one of the top 15 winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2024.

Organised by The Poetry Society, the accolade is one of the 'leading' writing competitions for youngsters aged 11 to 17.

It celebrates the 'future stars of the poetry world' and this year attracted 17,000 entries from more than 6,600 young poets.

Meredith's poem, which they explained is about feeling trapped by assumptions but also the joy of belonging, captivated the judges.

They said: "Being told that I was one of this year’s Foyle’s winners is an affirmation that my writing is not only valuable but also something that people want to read.

"My poem is about feeling both trapped by others who assume things about me, but also the joy of having a community who I can rely on and in which I feel like I belong.

"The water motif represents both a drowning and a rebirth, a coming of age and a singular moment of clarity that I pinpointed before starting to write."

The winning poems cover a wide range of subjects, from the beauty of nature to themes of love, loss, and conflict.

The competition was judged by poets Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Underwood, who were impressed by the 'maturity' of the entries.

Ms Kisuule said: "I had a glimmer of intrigue as I read the first line of each entry: where might this poem take me?

"This year’s entries took me to many wondrous and unexpected places.

"Some poems made me cackle and others made my stomach twist in recognition with the pain and struggle they depicted.

"Jack and I were awestruck at how precocious and assured these poets are.

"Amongst them are the future stars of the poetry world."

Winners of the award receive a range of prizes to help develop their writing, including further mentoring opportunities.

Mr Underwood said: "Judging the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award this year was a genuinely restorative experience: to see so many poems written by young people, while initially daunting, reassured me that poetry is healthier than ever, and continues to lure fresh minds into its weird, millennia-old conversation.

"I was impressed by how imaginatively and wholeheartedly these poets ventured into the world, asked questions, and replied to it: with tenderness, social conscience, and novelty of thought and phrase."

The top 15 poets are invited to attend a residential writing course at the Arvon centre, The Hurst in Shropshire, in February.

There, they will spend a week focusing on improving their poetry and establishing a community of writers, under the guidance of professional poets.

The top 15 poems will be published in a printed anthology from March.

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award has been run by The Poetry Society since 1998 and is supported by the Foyle Foundation.

Many of the 'biggest stars' in contemporary poetry were recognised and encouraged by the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award as teenagers, including Sarah Howe, Caroline Bird, Jay Bernard, Theo Kwek, and Helen Mort.