Here’s an achievement to make you green with envy!
Ever heard of the musical, Wicked? It takes the classic
story of The Wizard of Oz and turns it on its head, making us question what
we’ve always been told to be true.
The musical follows Elphaba (the so-called Wicked
Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good), revealing the ‘true story’ behind their
friendship and their struggles against adversity as the two young women follow
their fateful paths.
The Wicked Young Writers’ Award is a competition that uses
the key messages of Wicked to encourage young people to look at life in a
different way and to express their creativity through writing.
After some fantastic encouragement, a phenomenal 100
children from Middlesbrough CU entered the 2015 competition.
From this, 5 children
registered with the Iron Guidance charity, with which Middlesbrough CU collaborates,
were selected as finalists in the 5-7 age category! The original press release about it can be read here.
The 5 girls were invited to attend the Wicked Young Writers’
Award ceremony in the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London on June 29th. And it was
an awards event like no other!
Bathed in a green glow, beneath the watchful gaze of a
giant mechanical dragon, the finalists listened raptly as the winning entries
in each age category were read aloud by members of the Wicked team and cast.
The finalists were also treated to 2 beautiful songs from Wicked, delivered by
the cast (‘For Good’ is one of my personal favourites!). Finally, Cressida Cowell, author of the
How To Train Your Dragon book series, talked to the talented young writers and
took part in a Q&A session.
The weather was beautiful, our CU passport holders had a
wonderful time and their stories and talent have been immortalised in print in
the official Wicked Young Writers’ Award 2015 book. Debbie even got our copy autographed
by them for when they make it even bigger!
Combine this with the amazing poems we received for our CU
Poetry Slam competition (winning entries to be published next week..!), and it’s
fairly safe to say that our CU children are a truly talented bunch of Munchkins!
Catch you next time!
Ian
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