LYNN – Lynn English High School sponsored its annual poetry contest Wednesday under the guidance of poetry chairs Shannon Gardner and Carol Conway. Each April, National Poetry Month, students are encouraged to submit their original poems to be read aloud and judged according to content, delivery and creativity.Judges Loretta Christoforo, Rose Coltin and Nicole McGuinness had a tough time finding a winner this year because all of the entries were of high quality.In the poems that impressed the judges most, students took on serious issues.First prize went to Jason Diamond, who won $100 for his poem “To Be a Hero” about the courage of soldiers. “Deafening cries of the earth rise, to be a spirit, to be a hero,” he wrote. Joshua Asequia wrote about graduating and leaving home in “Who We Are,” which won second prize. The poem ended with, “So the people aren’t like sheep, we are at least the wolves, roaring out to the moon in the night, cleansing the sinful souls.”Third prize winner Jessica Morillo focused on school bullying. Her poem “Throughout the Years” follows a boy’s life, beginning when “In first grade he walked through the door . . . with his crooked haircut and untied shoe.” His classmates target him for ridicule until the last verse: “In eleventh grade he didn’t walk through the door. The reason why: well, he didn’t exist anymore.”The judges had intended to name only three Honorable Mentions, but when they heard the performances they had to honor five poets: Jonathan Agusto, Farina Ashraf, Brandon Cloran, Parris Powell, and Iris Rivas.