Schools across Meridian Trust have been treated to a virtual visit from award-winning children’s author, Julian Sedgewick following a ‘Write Here Write Now’ writing competition.
The Write Here Write Now competition, which aimed to boost creative writing across the Trust, was centred around the theme: Transformation. Students from ten schools took part – submitting poems, short stories, and creative pieces relating to the theme.
Entries were judged by Executive Principal, Richard Spencer who found Year 7 student, Edith Hobson from North Cambridge Academy; Year 8 student, Tarika Dawar from North Cambridge Academy; and Year 9 student, Lucy Calver from Stratton Upper School to be the winners.
Edith’s poem ‘Ape’ combined beautiful imagery with a very clever structure and form.
Tarika’s poem ‘The Dragon and the Rebel Girl’ took the reader on a fantastical flight of imagination, combining intelligent thymes with powerful and vivid imagery.
Lucy’s poem ‘Air! Air!’ succeeded in capturing the judge’s attention in an urgent and powerful way.
The competition culminated with a virtual visit from award-winning children’s author, Julian Sedgewick – who is based near Ely in Cambridgeshire.
Julian’s first book for children, ‘Mysterium: The Black Dragon’ was published in July 2013 and won the Rotherham Children’s Book Award. The second and third instalments of the trilogy ‘The Palace of Memory’ and ‘The Wheel of Life and Death’ were published shortly after in 2014.
During the session, Julian spoke to students on the inspiration and background for his popular novel ‘Tsunami Girl’, answered questions from students about what being a writer is like and gave his highlights from the creative writing anthology. Julian then announced the winners of the competition, followed by a writer’s workshop where he helped students to create settings and characters of their own.
Mary Currie, English Curriculum Area Lead at Meridian Trust, said: “Our Trust-wide Write Here Write Now competition has been a huge success and has encouraged our young people to engage more with creative writing. The session with Julian was fantastic too and has inspired a love for learning and creative thinking. A big thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to our winners – Edith, Tarika, and Lucy.”
To celebrate some of the other best and brightest entries from across the participating schools, the Trust has published a collective anthology.