Two Immanuel College first years have won prizes in an international poetry competition held in memory of an Israeli teenager.

Rafi Goldstein took second place in the Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize with his poem I Move Forward Without Thinking, while Sigal Nachshen came third with Stillness.

Bar Sagi, who died of cancer shortly before her 16th birthday four years ago, wrote poetry in English and the memorial prize is open to entries in the language from young people aged from 12 to 19.

Gordon Spitz, head of English at Immanuel, said he had been touched by her story. “My pupils across year 7 to 13 wrote poems and so the achievement of Rafi and Sigal is exceptional, not only because of the beauty and sophistication of their poems but also because they are in year 7,” he said.

“Writing poems is a way of distilling an experience, thought or emotion using language in its most creative form.

“My classes also watched the moving YouTube videos of Bar Sagi’s poems put to music.”