A poetic retelling of a legendary Viking battle on the Isle of Man has led a young writer to be named as the island’s new youth bard.

Xander Shirtliff was named as the second Manx Youth Bard at a special ceremony, held at the Henry Bloom Noble Library.

The 15-year-old writer was chosen after he impressed the judges with his three poems, in particular his historical piece ’The Battle of Sky Hill’.

Xander was ceremoniously dressed in the robes of the Youth Bard by his predecessor, Holly MacRae, who was chosen as the first ever Youth Bard last year, and awarded prizes of £300 by the chair of the Manx Bard committee, Bridge Carter and £25-worth of book vouchers by sponsors Bridge Bookshop.

Last year’s runner-up, QEII student Esther Waters, again came second, with Rhian Ashton third.

The top three were selected after a lengthy process, which saw the judging panel, made up of the surviving Manx Bards, including Annie Kissack, Sara Goodwins, Stacey Astill and John Callister, along with the current Bard, Zoe Cannell, and guest judge, local writer Janet Lees, whittle the entries down to the best 15, and then the final top three.

With the judges finding difficulty in separating the poets on the quality of their writing, the judges decided that Xander’s strong and confident delivery swung the odds in his favour.

’We were really impressed by his work, said Janet.

’We had already seen the poems on paper and it was really close, but Xander’s performance was outstanding.

He came in to the reading actually wearing his own cape that he had made himself and his own staff, which was brilliant, and he was just incredibly confident.

’He was very engaging, he made lots of eye contact with all of us and he carried it off really well.

’But, my word, the poetry right through the competition, and especially from the top three, was amazing and to make the decision was really tough.

’On paper, you couldn’t really choose between the top three, as both Esther and Rhian were also terrific, but Xander’s performance was so good.

’I think we have chosen a wonderful young poet to be the Youth Bard for the next year.’

Encouraged by his mother, Jacqueline Shirtliff, who is also a writer, Xander has been writing poetry since the age of nine.

He said that he hopes to use his position to inspire more young people to take up poetry.

’I think it is quite a cool opportunity, being the Manx Youth Bard,’ said Xander.

’I am only the second person to hold this title, and also I’m one of only two men to be a bard, whether it is the youth bard or adult. I think that is quite important.

’There are not many guys my age who want to write poetry, never mind get dressed up in a robe and carry a wooden staff.

’It is pretty cool that I am able to do such a thing as this.

’If I manage to inspire people along the way then that is a pretty amazing thing too. ’But really it is about seeing what happens at the time. If people get inspired that is amazing, but if they don’t, at least I can say I tried my best.’

As Youth Bard, Xander will be invited to appear at events through the year, including the Manx Litfest poetry slam and the Manx Bard event in August, among others.

The Manx Youth Bard is supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council.