Three students from Years 8 and 9 have made it through to the second round of a prodigious national writing competition. Molly Kay in Year 8, Anna-Luisa Ayckbourn and Jimmy Robinson in Year 9 all wrote short stories last term and entered them into the competition.
It is worth noting that statistically that as only 40 students at Fyling Hall were eligible for entry into the competition, and there were over 90,000 entries, our three pupils had a 1 in 3600 chance of getting through to the second round. Pretty impressive, if we do say so ourselves!
‘500 words’ which is organised by BBC Radio 2 received stories from writers aged 13 and under. The Scottish Book Trust is now judging the second stage of our competition and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that our pupils are among the final 50 entries, which will be announced at the end of April. These stories will also be published on the Radio 2 website and winners will be announced at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in May.
You can read about the competition here and read last year’s winners
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/500words/2013/
Our own young writers have produced a fascinating variety of stories: Anna has written about the fatal influence of a Barbie doll has on her impressionable owner; Jimmy has focused on Twigly, a servant, and his dark master; Molly’s story Old Companion, charts the friendship of a young girl and her dog. Mrs Park, Mrs Woodhead and Miss Rowland have all enjoyed reading these stories and will be keeping their fingers crossed that all three students will get through to the final round!
We have been very excited by all our young writers who have produced stories last half term and many will now be published in our school Creative Writing Magazine. With mystery, poetry, suspense and humour, get ready for some fantastic half term reading!