A packed Tudor House witnessed an evening of simply excellent slam poetry last Thursday in a memorable competition.

The standard was so high that the judges reported that they had great difficulty in determining the points they should award and, eventually, it was a very close run contest.

In fourth place was Gus Jonsson who was so excited about getting through after a battling first half performance, he couldn’t find the poems he was supposed to read.

In third place was last year's winner, Mark Mace Smith who, in a first for Write Out Loud, used his first half slot to propose to his girlfriend. Sadly, she declined him.

Mark Mace Smith

Louise Fazackerley came a very close-run second after two excellent performances.

Louise Fazackerley with her second prize

But first place went to Fatima Al Matar who had driven all the way from Coventry to take part (and drove straight back afterwards). She gave a stunning performance to scoop first prize.

Well done to everyone who took part, on the night. All gave an above-par performance and, very strangely, no one went over time, although Sophie Hall timed her performance immaculately to finish as the stopwatch clicked to 3 minutes.