Michaela takes top poetry prize

Michaela takes top poetry prize

30 March 2016

A SHIMNA Integrated College student has come top of the class in a poetry competition run by mental health charity Aware.

Michaela Quinn, a Year 11 student, won the ‘Unleash our Voices’ competition with her entry entitled ‘Another Day’.

The charity invited young people from schools throughout Northern Ireland to take part in what was their first ever schools poetry competition. The theme of the competition was ‘Young People and Mental Health’ and the purpose was to encourage young people to express themselves openly and write freely about issues around mental health and depression. 

After considering the many submissions, Michaela was deemed the winner by the two independent judges from Poetry NI,Geraldine O’Kane and Colin Dardis. 

In their feedback, the judges said Michaela’s poem was “astute in expressing the frustration of having an invisible disability”.

Michaela explained: “I never thought about the fact that mental health problems don’t show in the same way a broken leg does. 

“That’s what really inspired me to write the poem.”  

Ellen McVea, vice-principal of Shimna Integrated College, congratulated Michaela and all those who took part.

“The competition really caught the attention of students, both those who have experienced troubled feelings themselves, and those whom the competition inspired to find out more and to empathise,” she said.

Aware is the only charity in Northern Ireland working exclusively for those with depression and bipolar disorder. 

Colleen Milligan, the charity’s Schools and Corporate Fundraiser said: “We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the volume and content of the poems we received from pupils throughout Northern Ireland into our poetry competition.  

Young people living with mental illness can find it difficult to speak about how they are feeling and so some find it really beneficial to be creative whether that’s in the form of music, art, drama or writing.  

“I want to thank every pupil for taking part in our competition and really want to congratulate Michaela on writing a fantastic poem.”

More information on Aware and the programmes they offer are available on their website: www.aware-ni.org