A young Oxford poet has been picked from thousands to receive a prestigious prize for her work.

Claire Ewbank, from Headington School, was chosen from more than 5,000 11- to 17-year-olds across the world to be named one of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year for 2008.

Judges comedian Ian McMillan and dancer Eva Salzman selected Miss Ewbank for her four works: Marching, People Should Smile More, Happiness and Muriel’s Recipe. The 17-year-old is one of only 100 to receive the prize, due to be presented at a special ceremony in London on Thursday.

Previous winners of the accolade have gone on to be published in books, anthologies, and popular poetry magazine Acumen.

Winners are also invited to read at festivals across the UK, including the Torbay Festival, which was set up after the Second World War primarily to nurture young talent.

Miss Ewbank is currently doing A-Levels in French, German, art and religious studies. She became interested in poetry at the age of 11, but only recently began to submit her work for competitions on the advice of a teacher.

She added: "I write about things that are important to me and I take a lot of inspiration from nature. I wrote the poem Marching about the environment and protecting the world, which is a big issue I am interested in, and People Should Smile More because I like happy people.

"I haven't chosen to study English but I constantly use words in my art, to develop ideas, which I find really helps in my poetry.

"One of my favourite poets, along with writers such as Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, is James Russell Lowell."

Lisa Roberts, a spokesman for the Foyle Society, said the standard of the entries this year was astounding.

She added: "Look out for the young writers in the future, because this isn't the last you will be hearing from them."