Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland would like to congratulate the winners of the 2020/21 Rotary Young Writer competition.
The theme on this occasion was “My Happiest Day”, where contestants were challenged to write a piece of fiction or non-fiction, prose or a poem as long as it relates to the theme.
Age groups have been set to allow for all participants to have a fair chance at winning and have equal skills as their peers. These consist of Junior (7-10 years), Intermediate (11-13 years) and Seniors (14-17 years).
The main aim for the competition is to allow young people to use their imagination and creativity to develop their writing skills.
Students were judged on their imagination; relative to the subject, ability to engage interest and being consistent in their power of argument.
Rotary would like to thank the sponsors – Matthew James Publishing and Kenilworth Books for their support of this competition.
Read all the exceptional pieces of work in full and the summaries below:
Senior
1st Place – Thea Mathieson – Rotary Club of West Wirrall
Thea’s emotive poem is focused on the power of women and how they cannot be defeated by the society. She shows her happiness through the strength of who she is.
2nd Place – Kerry Myers – Rotary Club of Severn Vale
Kerry’s poem questions the idea of the best days being the happiest days. It instead states that it is the imperfect days that help us see what is positive not the “happy”, perfect ones.
3rd Place – Lily Tibbits – Rotary Club of Amble and Warkworth
Lily’s short story depicts a struggle she faced with her brother’s condition and how she overcame the struggle of finding the cure. However, everything has a price…
Intermediate
1st Place – Leonie Hanan – Rotary Club of Donaghadee
A simple dream of dancing on the sun while it rises with a mysterious man that makes dreams come true seems bizarre, but for Leonie… her dreams did come true.
2nd Place – Chaitanya Sapra – Rotary Club of Milton Keynes
Chaitanya compares her protagonist’s battle for their health using the analogy of a battlefield. With soldiers being her body’s strength to fight her character’s sickness.
3rd Place – Lorenza Rees – Rotary Club of Putney
In Lorenza’s poem, she outlines how the best day of someone’s life does not have to be a big event. Instead it can be any day where even simple things matter compared to a stereotype.
Junior
1st Place – Freida Lindsey
A short story of a mother and wife waiting for her beloved son and husband in the war. In the meantime she receives a letter, her heart shatters as she reads it, but is it a mistake?
2nd Place – Max McCartney – Rotary Club of Kinver
The most important memory for Ben was seeing his grandfather again. It was only the one day, but it was Ben’s ‘Happiest Day’.
3rd Place – Gabriel Orchard – Rotary Club of Truro Boscawen
The story of a boy who escapes his nightmare carer and finds himself adopted by people that will care and look after him. George’s best day has arrived, with more to come.
To read these amazing pieces of work click here
If you would like to participate in the 2021/22 event the theme is ‘Environment’. For more information follow this link:
Youth Competitions – Our Projects – Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland (rotarygbi.org)
