Alonzo Richards used to wish he was invisible. “The other children kept making jokes about my size, which I didn’t like too much,” he said. “I was stocky.”

He is now a muscular 18-year-old but he was able to tap into those childhood feelings to win the Youth Library Teen Advisory Board poetry competition.

“I chose the topic Superpower for a Day,” the CedarBridge Academy student said. “My superpower was invisibility.

“The character in the poem feels that in school no one sees him and he is often by himself. He wants to hide his pain and tears.

“The poem ends on a positive note and says, ‘Maybe I’ll be seen tomorrow’.”

Since leaving middle school, he has not needed to be invisible. “At CedarBridge I started lifting weights in the gym,” he said. “I love sports and I play rugby. I lost about 20lbs. I’m a popular student now. Everyone wants to talk to me in the hall.”

The poetry win came as a surprise as he had never written any poetry before.

“I don’t read it or write it,” he said. “I like to swim and go bike riding. I like to fish. I like to do anything that is outdoors.”

The teenager dreams of becoming a marine biologist.

“I just started taking scuba diving with a work release programme at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science,” he said. “I am learning to scuba dive and use all the gear. I love it.

“There is nothing I like better than being in the water. I have loved to swim since I was a baby. Swimming came naturally to me.”

He won the poetry competition on the same day that he won a principal’s spotlight certificate. “It was for good sportsmanship on the school rugby team,” he said. “The day that I won the poetry competition was a good day. I feel like everyone is pushing me to do my best. My peers are very supportive. ”

In September, he will enter his last year at CedarBridge.

Naomi Fubler, of Warwick Academy, came second in the 14-18 category of the poetry competition; Kyla Scott, of CedarBridge Academy, came third. Saltus Grammar School students Travis Corday, Alexander Miller and Jonah Davidson came first, second and third respectively in the category of 11 to 13-year-olds.

Alonzo’s prizes included a $60 Brown & Co gift certificate, a $25 iTunes card and a goodie bag filled with a number of things, including a writing journal.