Five primary school children from Middlesbrough and Stockton
have been shortlisted for the prestigious Wicked Young Writers’ Award. Thanks
to support from Grand Central Rail, they will be travelling to London’s West
End to attend an exciting
awards ceremony.
The finalists were chosen from entries in the five- to seven-year-old age category. The
burgeoning wordsmiths sent in their own original stories after a special
assembly at their school delivered by local charity Iron Guidance in
partnership with arts and education company Apollo Arts. Children were
inspired by a live piano performance of one of the songs from the stage show
Wicked by talented local musician Josh Elliot.
Through their partnership with the National Literacy Trust
Hub in Middlesbrough, independent train travel operator Grand Central is
providing free travel for the children and five accompanying adults so they can
all attend the awards ceremony. This will be held on Monday 29 June at 2pm.
Wicked cast members will be performing musical numbers from
their hit show and the event will be hosted by acclaimed author Cressida
Cowell. There will also be an interactive literacy workshop involving all 100
of the shortlisted finalists.
Now in its fifth year, the Wicked Young Writers’ Award is
inspired by the values of the musical, encouraging young people between the
ages of 5 and 25 to express themselves through writing.
The shortlisted children from Middlesbrough and Stockton
are:
- Daisy
Johnson, aged six, from, from St Mark’s Elm Tree CE VA Primary School who
entered her story, the Squirrel Adventure.
- Lilly
Rose Brown, aged six, from St Edwards RC Primary School who entered her story,
Captain Salty Makes a Friend.
- Amélie
Rose Bourner, aged seven, from St Edward’s RC Primary School who entered her
story, The Magical Hidden Garden.
- Charlotte
Catchpole, aged seven, from St Edward’s RC Primary School who entered her
story, Woozle and Friends.
- Amélie-Rose Walker, aged seven, from St Edward’s RC Primary School who entered her story Northumberland
Neverland.
Allison Potter, Manager of the National Literacy Trust Hub
in Middlesbrough, said:
"Congratulations to
all of these young writers who have done incredibly well to reach the final of
a national competition with their stories. To have the chance to travel to
London for what promises to be a spectacular awards ceremony makes their
achievement even more exciting.
"We’re delighted to be able to link up organisations
including Grand Central Trains through the National Literacy Trust Hub in
Middlesbrough to help make occasions like this possible. I’m sure it will be a
truly memorable event for all the finalists and their families."
Victoria Cameron-Hall CEO of Iron Guidance said: "We heard
about this brilliant opportunity through our membership with Children’s
University and we wanted to encourage children from Teesside to enter. To make this possible we delivered assemblies
in schools which clearly captured the children’s imagination and we were
delighted by the hugely positive response. There were over 100 entries in just 2 weeks, which is a credit to
everyone involved."
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