A Norwich pupil is celebrating after being crowned a winner in one of East Anglia’s biggest writing competitions for young people.

Florence Bullion, a year nine student at City of Norwich School, which is part of Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT), is celebrating her success as one of seven winners in this year’s Young Norfolk Writing Competition.

The competition is the region’s largest annual creative writing event for young people aged 11 to 18 and this year received a record number of entries, with more than 500 pieces of work submitted to judges for consideration.

Florence’s poem, titled ‘An Impromptu nonsensical’, was chosen as one of the seven winning entries, a second entry she submitted also received one of 12 highly commended awards.

Florence said: “The poem was written to capture and preserve a mood that I didn’t want to lose, and I am happy I won and will certainly continue writing.”

Florence’s winning poem ‘An Impromptu nonsensical’

Do you ever just

walk in the woods

and as you pause for a moment, it dawns upon you

that this is perfect

and this is the air, this is the whimsical charm from which fairytales are spun

it hangs arctic yet soft around your face

pure and still, frozen

and clambers up from deep inside you

the child within

slips into your mind, lolls in the nonsensical glow of long-dormant wonder

and grasps the reins

as you hesitate -

and just for a slight moment, this pictures stiffens and sets

bleeds in vibrant inks into the wrinkled melodies of a fairytale

locked, trapped in time

a rare, simple impression - a fossil of gleam and glimmer

and yet in a few seconds

it is swept aside, that curious stillness, ripped and ruptured by the nimble dance of time

and it is gone

forever