Celebrating Success in Creative Writing and Poetry
Members of the Year Nine Books and Writers’ Club have enjoyed several creative writing successes in recent months. Most notably, Erin Docherty won first prize at the Worcester Competitive Arts Festival with her wonderful reimagining of George and the Dragon in the Myths and Legends short story category. She was joined by fellow RGS pupil, Emily Pipe, who was awarded third prize in the ‘write and perform a poem’ category. This year, the festival’s theme for poetry was simply ‘Oceans’. Both girls later shared their winning entries with an appreciative audience at our weekly Book Club meeting. It was fantastic to see the pupils so engaged with one another’s work.
Further creative writing success has come through the nationwide Young Writers’ competitions. Entrants were asked to submit a 100-word mini-saga with prizes including the opportunity to be published in the latest Young Writers anthology, ‘The Glitch’. Inspired by the competition tagline, A sudden shift, a twist of fate, and bam! Everything changes! Books and Writers’ Club members were given the opportunity to discuss a range of possible topics, characters and plots. There were some unexpected and truly original ideas suggested. We would like to extend our congratulations to the five Year Nine pupils whose work was selected for publication: Zara Ashfield, Amelie Baynham, Ridhima Canchi, Erin Docherty and Emily Pipe. The mini-sagas chosen covered a multitude of subjects from a surprising conversation with Death to a rift appearing between the unfurling wings of a dragon, we also had a time portal opening between the bookshelves of a library – a glitch indeed!
As the interest in creative writing beyond the classroom has grown in Year Nine, several pupils have turned their hand to poetry, entering their original poems for this weekend’s Ledbury Poetry Festival and for The Young Writers’ ‘Through Their Eyes’ competition. Asked to imagine life through someone or something else’s eyes, we once again had some highly original ideas: an Alzheimer’s patient exploring their memories and the voice of a great winding river meandering through the countryside, just two of the memorable perspectives explored by RGS pupils in their poems.
An opportunity to hear a selection of the excellent creative and poetic work produced by Year Nine Books and Writers’ Club members will be provided at the Creative Arts Evening later this month, so please do come along to hear our talented young writers reading their own award-winning pieces.
Mrs Sally Houchin, Teacher of English
