A young Israeli proved her poetic prowess by winning a prize in a competition for youth.

Aya Marcus, who lives in Cambridge was a winner in the year 8 section of the Routes into Language East’s Mother Tongue Other Tongue contest with the first entry in Hebrew submitted in the nine years it has been running.

In the Mother Tongue category, pupils whose first language is not English can write in their native language, while the Other Tongue encourages students to write in a language in they are learning.

The chief judge, Dr Mariah Whelan, the Jacqueline Bardsley poet-in-residence at Cambridge’s Homerton College, praised Aya for her “good awareness of political context”.

Aya is a member of Alumot, the Centre for Hebrew Education and Culture, which caters for Israelis living in Cambridge.

Her teacher Martha Drukker said, “In Alumot children who speak Ivrit at home come together to learn to read and write but also to play together, form meaningful connections and mark the holidays in Ivrit.”

The poetry competition was “ a wonderful opportunity to engage with the language beyond the everyday and home-based context.

Sarah Schechter, director of Routes into Languages East, said, “This is really exciting for us. So far, our only involvement with Ivrit has been the Spelling Bee, Translation Bee and Primary Bee in partnership with PaJeS, so it’s great to have another project featuring Ivrit”.