100 young writers enter this year’s Rotary Young Writer competition

You might assume a writing competition is all about who wins. But the most telling part of this year’s Rotary Young Writer Competition wasn’t the winners at all. It was the question one neighbouring town kept asking Truro.

A theme that drew 100 young writers

This year’s competition asked young people across the county to write on the national theme of “Happiness in Nature”. The response in the Truro area was strong, with 100 entries arriving from eight local schools.

The competition is open to writers aged 7 to 17 and is split into three age groups: Junior for ages 7 to 10, Intermediate for 11 to 13, and Senior for 14 to 17. Entries can be prose or poetry, with a 550 word limit on stories and 40 lines for poems. The aim is to give young people the chance to express themselves creatively in a piece of fiction or non-fiction.

The schools taking part were Archbishop Benson, Perran ar Worthal, Threemilestone Primary School, Richard Lander, Roseland Academy, Truro College, Truro High School, and Truro School Prep.

Who won

Judges selected three category winners. Nia Burnard, from Truro High School, won the Junior category. Rupert Sharp won the Intermediate category. Abigail Penna, from Truro College, took the Senior category.

All three were presented with £30 book tokens. Rupert and Abigail went on to come second in their categories in the District Finals.

Every one of the 100 young people who entered received a certificate for taking part, with the top five in each category receiving book tokens.

How the competition works

There are three stages. It starts with the local heat, organised by local Rotary clubs, with the winning stories in each age group then entered into a District Final. The winners of the District Finals go on to compete against each other in the national final, where the title of Rotary Young Writer of the Year is awarded.

The panel of judges for this year’s local heat, held earlier this year, included Sue Lawrence, Judy Mansell, Mike Barber, Peter Davies, Demelza Todd, Lois Bush, Debbie Tweedie, Tom Bayly, Ian Halford, Sue Hughes, Deborah Richards and Chris Granger.

What the judges were looking for

Area Organiser Peter Bayly explained what stood out. “We were looking for imagination and creativity in the writing and its relevance to the theme, as well as the ability to engage interest, consistency in argument, and the neatness of presentation,” he said. “It is always enjoyable to read the pieces and we were impressed by the imagination and enthusiasm shown by many of the young writers. We were particularly pleased to see that the pieces had been written by the young people themselves without the use of AI.”

And then there was the Falmouth question. “In each of the last 4 years the Truro Area competition has attracted well over 100 entrants, prompting the Falmouth Area Organiser to ask how we do it,” Peter said. “Of course, we have been happy to share with them the details of a method that has proved to be very successful.”

A long-running tradition

The Rotary Club of Truro Boscawen has taken part in the Young Writer competition since it first began. The club has a history of encouraging local young people to enter national Rotary competitions, organising heats of Rotary Young Leader, Youth Speaks and Young Chef events alongside the writing contest. It also stages fund-raising events to support local, national and international charities.

The theme for next year’s competition will be declared nationally in August. The Rotary Club will write to all local schools in the autumn inviting them to take part.