The jaw-dropping interior of the newly-refurbished Gorton Monastery in Manchester provided a superb setting for Adoption Matters Northwest's annual poetry competition awards event this month.

This years competition attracted a record number of entries from poets of all ages from across the region. The theme of the competition was 'belonging' and prizes were presented to poets from Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

The specialist adoption agency has been our client for over 15 years and the de Winter team was thrilled to be asked to organise the emotionally-charged event for the second successive year.

Our host for this special and emotion-filled occasion was Cheshire's longest-serving Poet Laureate, W. Terry Fox and we were overwhelmed by the generosity and enthusiasm of some big name regional poets who attended the event to read out the finalists' entries, share some of their own work and award the prizes. Two of our judges are themselves adopted and spoke with candour of their own adoption journey.

Among our special guests were leading poets Jim Bennett, Carol Fenlon, John Lindley, copland smith and Joy Winkler.

The awards were also attended by many supporters of the charity including the Deputy Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Harry Lyons and Chairman of Adoption Matters Northwest Chair, Professor David Cracknell.

For more details of the event and the winning entries, visit

http://www.adoptionmattersnw.org