A Year 9 student from Saint Paul’s is celebrating after scooping a top literary award in The Portico Sadie Massey Awards for Young Readers & Writers.
Year 9 student, Precious, sailed to victory with her outstanding creative writing in the Key Stage 3 category. The awards will be presented at a prestigious award ceremony at the historic Portico Library in Manchester.
The Portico Sadie Massey Awards for Young Readers and Writers aim to encourage a life-long love of reading and also to celebrate the North West of England through its talented young writers.
Hallie Fletcher, Writing Judge, commented: ‘I’d like to state it was very difficult to choose as the talent was unreal, each story was diverse and really captured me. We have a strong set of future writers, I’d love to read all their novels one day in Waterstones and other book stores. I feel unbelievably proud to have been a part of this.’
Hallie went on to comment on Precious’ story:
“Wow, one word. Powerful. I imagined this to be a series on television or better yet, a novel. The writer really explored serious themes, and I feel this should be read by every young person or even made into a short film. Based in the North of Manchester, it explores themes of friendship, knife crime and death. A very well written piece with an important message and a heart-wrenching conclusion.
“We are delighted with Precious’ success with her story, Love = Hate,” commented Mr Mallon. “It was a creative, imaginative, and beautifully written piece of writing. This is a great honour for Precious and at the same time it’s a fantastic way to improve literacy, develop writing skills and broaden the scope of reading.”
“In class we have been taking into consideration what criteria makes a good story, with perception, imagination and creativity all taken into account, along with expression, originality and use of language. Precious has taken these ideas and created a stunning piece of work!”
“We are so delighted with Precious’ success in this competition and proud of her talent for writing. As an English department, we work hard to encourage a rich literary and creative writing community,” explained Mr Sharrock,. “Precious’ produced some really impressive and descriptive writing and she deserves to be proud of herself for beating some difficult competition. Well done Precious!”
Mr Hren said: “To receive such a great accolade was amazing for Precious, she has been really inspired by her award. Precious is well aware of the magic of reading and creative writing and has been able to convey that love of language in her award-winning story.”
“We are all very proud of Precious and are looking forward to reading more of her work. As a school, we are very keen to inspire in our students a love of books and the written word.”
