A DYSLEXIC youngster has won first prize in a national poetry competition.

Sibford School pupil Brigid Davidson, 11, won first place in Charley Boorman’s Poetry Competition, organised by Dyslexia Action as part of Dyslexia Awareness Week.

Children aged four to 14 were asked to write about what reading meant to them, and the first words of the poem had to be, Reading is...

About 200 children entered the competition, organisers said.

Brigid, from Chipping Norton, said: “I found it really difficult to write the poem and didn’t think I stood a chance.

“It was a real shock when the competition people rang to say I’d won. It was really exciting.”

As part of the top three winners’ prizes, adventurer Charley has been filmed reading their poems and this footage is now available to view on Dyslexia Action’s website.

Dyslexia Action president Mr Boorman said: “The standard of the entries was excellent and the competition was tough.

“However, being dyslexic I could really identify with Brigid’s poem. She has done exceptionally well and I am sure her family must be very proud of her.”

The competition was run in conjunction with Readathon and supported by Connaught Education and children’s newspaper First News.

Judge Brough Girling, chairman of Readathon, said: “Judging something like this is terribly difficult, and these poems were no exception.

“However, I was looking in particular for poems where the personality of the writer comes through — where they are writing what they really feel about reading, and not merely what they think a poem about reading should be like.

“On this criteria Brigid, who obviously finds reading difficult, is my clear winner.”

To find out more, visit dyslexiaaction.org.uk Reading is a twisting turning path With lots of obstacles I must pass Why does it have to be so hard To even read my birthday card Words are like leaves on a steady breeze Scattering all around me But here comes the deadly mist That I must read my spelling list