Young poets from the East open Latitude Festival

Young people from across the East of England have performed their poems to officially open the 20th edition of the Latitude Festival in Suffolk.

It follows a competition run by the BBC and Latitude for seven to 11-year-olds who live or go to school in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire or Suffolk.

Judges chose six finalists, one from each BBC local radio area, with Esme, 10, from Essex the overall winner.

She impressed with her poem about a piano passed down the generations, and said: "I'm over the moon, I still can't believe it."

This year's theme was "generations", with each of the finalists choosing a different interpretation of how to express that.

Latitude founder and managing director Melvin Benn introduced the poets at Henham Park near Southwold, Suffolk.

He spoke about the importance of poetry to the festival over its 20-year history and praised the young performers' confidence and creativity.

"To be able to stand up on stage and deliver such incredible articulacy and incredible poems... I'm blown away by just how good you are and what the future holds when we've got young people like you around," he said.

The other finalists who performed were Connie from Suffolk, Austin from Northamptonshire, Lizzy from Norfolk and Alexia, who was the BBC Three Counties Radio finalist.

Sofia from Cambridgeshire was unable to attend the festival, so her poem was read by professional poet and competition judge Luke Wright.

He said: "Poetry has always been a big part of the whole Latitude thing.

"It's so nice to be bringing up a new generation of poets and the quality [of competition entries] was great this year."

Latitude arts curator Kirsty Taylor said: "There were brilliant entries from brilliant young people.

"We've ended up with six young poets who I think really represent the breadth of poetry... there's rhyme, there's rhythm and there is so much feeling.

"I hope that we'll see you all back here on this stage in many years to come."

The performances were broadcast live on BBC Local Radio across the East on Rob Jelly's Upload show.

Do you have a story suggestion? Contact us below.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.