Spectator competition: Poems for Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (plus: the poetry of cricket)

The poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s failure to pen a poem commemorating the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge prompted us to invite you to do it instead. You stepped into the breach with gusto: sonnets, odes and haikus poured in. The entry was diverse, full of charm and a pleasure to judge. I was particularly moved and impressed by the poems submitted by a group of seven- to eight-year-olds, which put some of the adult entrants to shame. Honourable mentions also go to Coco Hills and Marc Woodward. Sylvia Fairley’s entry, a neat riff on Duffy’s ‘22 Reasons for the Bedroom Tax’, was a winner. W.J. Webster’s sonnet earns him the extra fiver. The rest take £25.

W.J. Webster A baby safely born is always joy: The labour overtaken by relief, The skirling cry, no matter girl or boy, A presence still not quite beyond belief. This is the stuff of life that we all share, Determining not what but that we are: But sense of it’s then dulled with daily wear, Perception’s doors being left at best ajar.