TWO young poets from North Yorkshire have gone through to the final of a prestigious national competition.

Ethan Jackson and Rayansh Nag rose to the National Poetry Day competition challenge to write an acrostic poem – one where the first letter of each new line spells out a word or message – about plants or animals.

The Lost Words competition, inspired by the book of the same name by competition judge Robert Macarlane, attracted entries from all over the country.

Ethan, from Ripon, has been writing poetry for around six years - and was inspired to write his poem, False Widow, after spotting a small spider dangling outside his window.

Raynash, 11, from Burton Leonard, has also been writing poetry since the age of six. He was inspired to write about the sea otter after watching the nature documentary Our Planet on TV.

“I was very happy to be shortlisted,” he said.