AN EMERGING poet from Teesside has won a writing award with a poem about the demise of Redcar’s steelworks.

Emily Willis’ creative writing entry, Steelworks, Redcar, claimed the 2016 Norfolk Prize at the annual Cafe Writers Competition.

Her poem captures the demise of the town’s SSI plant, but provides hope for the landmark in retaining its proud history.

The former Teesside High School pupil, who went on to study English Literature at York University, and founded a student literary journal there, said: “I was inspired by a piece of writing which talks about the beauty of ruins of a church in Algeria and how they have shed their history.

“I wanted to use this in contrast to Redcar to imply that the ruins of the steelworks should refuse to be obliterated by time, how they will retain their history.

“I remember walking along the beach in Redcar last year and thinking about how the steelworks have always provided a backdrop to such a beautiful landscape. At this time, however, the blast furnace had been put out and there was no light. It really hit me that things had changed.

“There’s not much industrial heritage reflected in literature and, as such a huge part of Teesside’s culture, I wanted the steelworks to live on in my writing.”

Emily, who is currently studying for a Masters degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia, will now host a reading session with competition judge Andrew McMillan.

Mr McMillan said: “The Norfolk Prize is, ironically, for a poem set in Redcar. Steelworks, Redcar is a brilliant evocation of post-industrial decline set against intellectual nourishment.”