Grade 10 student Mickey Uy wins UK-based international poetry challenge

Mickey Uy, an Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) student from 10–Pires and the Advanced English 10A–Horacio de la Costa, SJ section, was recently named one of five winners in the prestigious Young Poets Network (YPN) Layered Landscapes Poetry Challenge. The deadline for entries was 21 December 2025, while the winners were announced on 24 February 2026, with the winning poems published on the YPN website.

Organized by the YPN in the United Kingdom, the online competition invited young writers from around the world to explore the theme “entanglement of people and landscape.” The Layered Landscapes challenge was run in partnership with the National Trust, Europe’s largest conservation charity.

Participants were tasked with writing poems that reach into the past or imagine a future shared between humankind and the natural world. According to the organizers, the challenge sought to highlight how history, beauty, and nature are deeply intertwined, especially in the face of modern challenges such as climate change.

The Young Poets Network is the Poetry Society’s premier online platform for writers up to the age of 25. It serves as a hub for both emerging and established young poets, offering guidance, inspiration, and a space for new writing.

Mickey’s achievement places him among a select group of international winners recognized for their ability to capture the complex relationship between humanity and the environment through poetry.

You can read Mickey’s winning entry and hear him recite his poem, "Dig Deep," on the official Young Poets Network website here: https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/uncategorized/dig-deep