The poem of Streatham's own budding Brontë has been picked as the winner in a national royal competition by the Poet Laureate.

Jessica Chowdhury, age 9, who attends Streatham and Clapham Junior School in Wavertree Road, triumphed over hundreds of entries in an online poetry competition run by Buckingham Palace.

Each applicant was asked to write a poem based on one of the items in the Royal Collection. The Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, then chose Jessica's poem, which was written about the Music Lesson by Johannes Vermeer, as the best one.

Her poem is now displayed on the royal website.

"I was shocked when I found out I'd won," said Jessica, who lives in Wavertree Road. "When we were set writing the poem for homework I thought it was boring. But then when I started writing it I decided I wanted to win.

"When my friends found out they were so proud of me and my parents were shocked because we don't normally win much in our family."

Jessica admitted although she is good at English, it is not her favourite subject at school. She said she generally enjoys creative activities, such as drawing and acting.

"My teachers think I'm famous now because I can Google myself and the page with my poem comes up." she added.

Her proud mum, Rezina Chowdhury, said the whole family is thrilled with Jessica's impressive accolade. "The Poet Laureate choosing your poem is quite an achievement for a nine year old," she said. "I couldn't resist sending the link to the website to all my colleagues at work."

Louisa Burke, head of Jessica's school, added: "We're delighted one of our talented pupils has been awarded this prize. It is wonderful her work has been recognised in this way."

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Jessica's Poem:

The Music Lesson

It's Sunday, in October, in 2007.
I am standing in an echoing gallery, portraits staring at me, with a cold feeling.
I see a picture, old fashioned with a range of beautiful colours.
Light red, dark brown, glowing white, sky blue.
A young woman, her face is reflected in a mirror, which stands on top of a harpsichord.

Her face looks smudged and sad.
A black, suited man, with long wavy hair, and a pointy nose, which looks pink, listens to the woman play.
Shades of daytime shadows, cover the room with darkness.
Light shines in through a window past the shadows, into the corner.
It feels as though I am the young woman having the music lesson.
She is now gone, but her image will live forever in this gallery.