Fifty talented North Lanarkshire primary pupils will soon see their dreams come true when their original poems are published in a new poetry anthology produced as part of the hugely successful North Lanarkshire Festival of Books and Writing – Words 2007.

The poems were selected from the entries to a National Poetry Day competition – 'Explore your dreams' – jointly organised by North Lanarkshire Council's Education Resource Service and Libraries and Information Service, which invited pupils from all North Lanarkshire primaries to write a poem on any aspects of the theme of dreams.

Amy Kyle (Primary 5) from New Stevenston Primary in Motherwell received a £50 book token for her winning entry, The Dream Chest, which highlights the items and experiences she would keep from her dreams. Second place and a £30 book token went to Callum Baxter (Primary 7), St Edward's Primary in Airdrie for his poem looking at the darker side of dreams, Nightmare Fears. Samantha Kirkwood (Primary 7), St Aidan's Primary in Wishaw took the third spot and a £15 book token for her poem, Dreams, which focuses on the different types of dreams that different people have.

"It was a really tough choice to pick the winner", said Russell Brown, Principal Librarian with North Lanarkshire Council's Education Resource Service. "The standard of the entries was incredible and, with more than 1,350 poems vying for the 50 publication spots, it was always going to be difficult to identify the ones to be included.

"Poetry can be as long or short as the poet requires and lends itself to any topic or any issue so it offers something for everyone and was the ideal way to get our pupils thinking and writing creatively.

"I would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry as there was clearly a lot of time and effort spent in writing these poems and I hope they enjoyed the experience and continue to read and write poetry as much as possible.

"I know that everyone involved in the judging panel was very impressed with the abundance of great poets within our primary schools and I look forward to seeing the fifty selected works in print."

Children’s poet and writer Ian Hunter – a North Lanarkshire man himself – presented Amy, Callum and Samantha with their book tokens and a commemorative certificate at a special ceremony in New Stevenston Library – North Lanarkshire's newest public library.

He said: "This is a great opportunity for young people in North Lanarkshire to try their hand at poetry and they have certainly more than risen to the occasion. The use of language, style, rhythm and rhyme in the poems was of the highest standard and was not something I would have expected in primary school children.

"The children should all be very proud of what they have achieved and I'll not be surprised if I find their books and collections on the bookshelf next to mine in the future "

Amy, Callum and Samantha's poems will be published in the new anthology, which is expected to be out before Christmas and copies will be available for purchase through schools and local libraries.