House Creative Writing
During the Autumn Term and over the Christmas holidays, St Bart’s held its inaugural House Creative Writing Competition. Originally conceived by Year 13 student, Laura Swanson (Patterson House Captain – Arts), the competition challenged students, across the Key Stages to write a short story based around a series of prompts:
- Key Stage 3: 1) A story about a fox called socks, 2) Purple, 3) Crossroads
- Key Stage 4: 1) A re-telling of a religious myth or story, 2) Magenta, 3) Forgotten
- Key Stage 5: 1) A story from the perspective of an inanimate object, 2) Grey, 3) For sale
On Tuesday 4 February, all those who submitted a story and their families were invited to the Awards Evening for the announcement of the 15 Semi-Finalists and three Overall Winners. Entries were shortlisted by Mr Randall (Head of English) and Laura, whilst judging the shortlisted entries and deciding the three overall winners were St Bart’s alumni, Josh Douglas and Jude Evans. Both Josh and Jude studied A Level English at St Bart’s and are now studying degrees in this field – Josh (English Studies – University of Cambridge) and Jude (English Literature and Creative Writing – University of Warwick).
During the Awards Evening, guests enjoyed refreshments and listened as a selection of amazing entries were read by the student writers. The evening concluded with the winners being announced and a speech from alumnus Josh Douglas, who spoke about his own passion for writing. The winners were Sai Bhavik Bayyana (Key Stage 3), Vedha Krisnam (Key Stage 4) and Sophie Warner (Key Stage 5) – you can read their short stories by following the links below…
Laura Swanson said: “The first annual House Creative Writing event was a fantastic opportunity for students to have their writing celebrated. The evening was filled with amazing short stories and the exploration of creative writing!”
Huge congratulations to Sai Bhavik, Vedha and Sophie and to all of the students who entered. Thank you to Laura for suggesting and organising the competition, and to our brilliant judges Josh and Jude for their time and support.
