Characters are taken through the looking glass...
St Mary’s School, Cambridge hosted its fourth annual Creative Writing Competition this year, open to boys and girls from Year 5 to Year 8 across Cambridgeshire. The competition is divided into two age categories, Years 5 and 6, or Years 7 and 8.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the entrants were asked to take characters from fairy tales, folk tales, myths, legends, games and stories through the looking glass. We wanted to know how students would create the stories if these characters left the comfort of their worlds.
This year’s competition was our most popular yet and we received 379 entries from 12 schools in total. Some of our favourite extracts are below:
“Get that dog out of here!” Hermione screeched at Tintin as Snowy sprinted into the girls’ dormitories, chasing Crookshanks, Hermione’s beloved cat.
The zookeeper glared at Aslan and said icily, “I don’t care if you do come from Narnia, you do NOT mess with my prize piggies, is that clear?!”
I am in trouble again. Let me explain. I am the perfect model. Dark, curly hair, spotless face, amber eyes - that’s me. Anyway, I am in trouble. Big trouble. I am with the Head, Miss Durby.
The winners of the competition were announced at a lively presentation evening on Wednesday 21 October at the school, by Alexander Gordon Smith, a wonderfully vivacious author and humorous raconteur, who has written a teenage horror series and other books for the young adult age group.
Winner of the Year 5 and Year 6 age category was Leela K. from St John's College School, Cambridge and the Year 7 and Year 8 age category winner was Lily Iona M. from the Stephen Perse Foundation. Each winner received a £50 book token. In addition to the winning entries, we received stories from our own students, more entries from St John's College School, and stories from students at the following Cambridgeshire schools: Steeple Morden Primary, Rickling C of E, Bourn Primary School, and St Philip's C of E. All participating students received a certificate as well as a small token in recognition of their efforts.
Thank you to all students who participated, and we hope you’ll all join in again next year!