A SIXTH form student of a girls school in Bushey looks forward to seeing her work in print this month, following her entry into a nationwide Golden Jubilee poetry competition.

Josephine Mbwana of St Margaret's School, in Merry Hill Road, Bushey, is one of 50 young writers nationwide to have been selected to feature in the anthology Fifty Jubilee Poems published next week.

Josephine, 18, who currently lives in Peckham, London and boards at the school during the week, was encouraged to submit her winning poem, 'Mama Africa Weeps,' by her English teacher, Mrs Joanne Cox.

The poem focuses on a theme close to the poet's own heart, that is the working lives of people living in Africa and how current oppression gets in the way of its progression as a country.

Josephine has been writing poetry as an outlet for self-expression for over a year. She said: "I didn't write the poem specifically for the competition, I wrote it a while back, and for me it has real meaning.

"I love to write and do so whenever I feel in the mood as an outlet and kind of form of self-expression."

The poem was selected from the hundreds entered, by an independent panel of judges headed by the famous poet, Laureate Andrew Motion, who has autographed a copy of the complete anthology, which will be presented to young contributor at the school on Tuesday (July, 9).

The talented student who also claimed the school's Poetry Prize of the Year, said: "I never thought it would be published. I was so excited when I first found out and couldn't stop smiling all day."

July 2, 2002 17:00