The Sruleen Young Author's Competition Winners!!

This year, we had a 'Young Authors Competition' in the school for the children of 4th - 6th class and we were blown away by the talent and very proud of the efforts of the children who chose to enter the competition and write their own story! We ultimately ended up with 8 winners and each of the winners deserve a special mention for the fantastic stories that they produced!

In Fourth Class, Andrea wrote a very scary story called the 'Haunted Class' about two twins, Eve and Alex, who realize that things aren't quite what they seem at school! First and foremost, Andrea created some really memorable characters in this story (Linsy being my own personal favourite)! There are some really funny moments in this story too but above all it is a horror story and one that is guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine of the reader! I must also compliment Andrea on her beautiful illustrations for the story too!

Holly wrote a really uplifting football story about a young football star called 'James Johnson'! What I loved about this story is that James is actually part of a team called Halkstone United who have been a struggling team and are actually trying to avoid relegation from their league. Holly is obviously a football fanatic and based on this story clearly knows a thing or two about tactics! Above all, this story teaches the importance of staying strong and determined but also team togetherness during the tough times in sport when you are really struggling to get results!

Archie wrote a very entertaining story called 'WWE Raw Royal Rumble'! Archie's passion for wrestling really jumps off the page in this story and you can really tell how knowledgeable Archie is about the subject just from reading this story alone! All your favourite wrestlers make an appearance in this one and if you want to find out who actually comes out on top as the champ, well... you will have to read it yourself!

Make sure you have a tissue at hand before reading 'The night they saw it all' by Tess as this is a story that could draw a tear from a stone! In this story, Lucy, Heidi, Ben and Jason encounter a mysterious old man working at the Ice-cream place in the park but it is not until we find out exactly who this mysterious old man is that the true emotional punch of this powerful, moving story is felt. Powerful stuff!!

In Lucy's riveting 'The Mysteries Music', we meet a really sharp, intelligent young lady called Kayla who is actually thrown right into the deep end on her first day as a Police Officer. Something very strange and disturbing is happening in this story as any person who listens to the music of the famous boy band 'The Mysteries', inexplicably goes missing and a hapless police force needs to rely on Kayla's natural investigative talent and quick but logical thinking to figure out what on earth is going on!! Full of humour, intrigue and twists, this story is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat!

In Lewis's brilliant fantasy story, we meet a young dragon called Storm! But Storm is no ordinary Dragon because he a certain, special ability - he can turn into a human at will! And this is a very useful special power to have in a story where the Dragons are at war with the humans! There is lots of exciting action in this story but ultimately it is a powerful story about family and resilience as through all the war that is going on, all Storm really cares about is somehow finding his parents! Beautiful stuff!

In Clive's nail-biting thriller, 'Escape', our protagonist, Jack, hatches a plan to escape the repressive regime of the orphanage he lives in. To say this story is intense would be a massive understatement - you do not get a second to breathe reading it. Clive vividly paints the picture of a 'mission impossible' scenario as not only do Jack and his pals have to escape the mean but vigilant matron but there are also snipers at the orphanage that they have to try and dodge! This is yet another outstanding submission from Clive who clearly has a special talent for Creative Writing and a masterful command of the English language for someone so young! 

And last but most certainly not least, we turn to our Grand Winner, Luke! Luke's story 'William: Rise of the Dead' is an epic of monumental proportions. It's like a modern day 'Lord of the Rings'! William Wolf exists in a world where there are no humans anymore but half animal-half human creatures. One day William gets a strange invitation from the creatures called the 'Bones' (they used to be the humans!) and what ensues is the adventure of a lifetime as William and his friends such as Sally Squirrel and Anna Alligator (Yes, Shakespeare would be proud of the alliteration!) get lost in the dangerous, super-scary land of the 'Bones'. In order to stay alive, they have to survive numerous threats including river attacks on their raft, battles in the Karate Tower and a big showdown with the Bones King himself (who as it turns out might not be such a big fan of Cheese Sandwiches!) This is a wonderfully imaginative epic ( at least 25 pages long!!!) with beautifully descriptive language, loveable characters, hilarious dialogue and heart-pumping action! Congratulations Luke!!!

We are delighted to report that there are some wonderfully talented young authors here in Sruleen and though it was ultimately Andrea, Clive, Lucy, Lewis, Tess, Archie, Holly and Luke who walked away with the prizes, all the children who entered deserve massive credit for going to the effort of creating their very own story for this competition! Hopefully, these children will use this experience to continue to create new stories and that other children in the school may also feel inspired to engage in creative writing as it is a very rewarding and exciting endeavour once you put your mind to it. Above all, it's good for the soul! Well done children!