Short Story Competition - Hall of Fame

As regular readers of our blog will know, at the end of January our short story competition entries had been received (see blog post from January 30th) and the fun part of reading the entries had started for myself and my colleagues here at Alliotts.

The ‘Hall of Fame’ has been selected from all the entries we received which represent the Alliotts staff favourite stories. I am pleased to introduce that here for your reading pleasure. There is a wide range of styles, themes and genres displayed by the children who have entered our competition so no matter your taste there’s bound to be a story for you. I’m sure you’ll agree that the standard shown by these year 7 entrants is high and in some cases quite striking!

I’d like to extend a big thank you to Susan Moore, author of the Nat Walker books, who has been our guest judge and chosen the winning story and three runner ups.

Another big thank you to Susan Armstrong of Conville & Walsh Literary Agency who has volunteered to write some words of encouragement and advice for the top four authors. Hopefully the input and encouragement from two figures in the industry will help foster tomorrow's budding authors! These four young authors will also all receive vouchers as prizes and our overall winner gets to host Susan Moore at a creative writing workshop for their class. This year the winning story came from the Guru Nanak Sikh academy who will have Susan Moore visit their school shortly.

Feedback from Guest Judge: Susan Moore

WINNER:  I Remember
I boarded the train at Guildford and 'I Remember' was the first story in the pile of entries that I was planning to get through before reaching London. It was the only one I read on the entire journey. Its first person narrative account of being captured in Mosul moved me to tears. The description of events reads so vividly. Short, tension-filled sentences, peppered with clipped dialogue, reveal the terror of war, the human suffering. The story evokes a stark realism - all that was once a normal life is stripped away from the narrator: family, home, life itself.
'I Remember' is one of the shortest stories in the entries, only seven paragraphs long, but it packs a punch, portraying the harsh truth of a war-torn place from a young girl's perspective. Congratulations!

RUNNER UP: Alien Invasion
Wow, there's big drama in 'Alien Invasion'! From the moment our narrator is out of bed he's on the run to school, deals with futuristic fireballs on the way, makes it to class, gets stuck in detention, before a life-changing encounter with a UFO! I like the pacing. It's a well compiled story, each phase upping the stakes, creating a gripping read. I laughed out loud when his teacher sees his distressed state and '...could only mumble two words, "You're late."' Great ending, left me wondering what '...I was truly home...' meant? - Bravo!

RUNNER UP: The Death Slide
'The Death Slide' is a great story about a girl conquering her fears and being brave enough to go down 'The Death Slide' at Shimmer Field. The voice of the first person narrator is honest and authentic. I really enjoyed her descriptions of her two friends - Lucy 'the observant artist' and Anna 'the big cheese'. It's great way to establish their different personalities as the story gets underway. The phases of events are graphically presented, the plot moves along nicely, and I loved her conclusion: 'I realise that I might be quiet, even invisible, but hidden inside me is a brave heart.' - Bravo!

RUNNER UP: The Game
'The Game' is a hugely enjoyable story at a thriller-pace! I was gripped from its foreshadowing first sentence, '.....unbeknownst to Josh Bray, he would soon find himself in a situation even worse than death...'. The app game with its tentacles reaching out of virtual reality and into reality is a chilling premise. Josh's analytical account of events is layered with humour, making for a very engaging telling of the story. I laughed when I read 'Boredom: at this point Josh Bray was a literal embodiment of it' - such is the inconvenience of having to wait for someone! The ending wordplay with 'Ed Rang' and 'Danger' is a clever and interesting way to conclude Josh's adventure. - Bravo!

If your entry hasn't made it into the 'Hall of Fame' this time, don't be disheartened. We received some very creative stories and our staff found it very hard to pick just one favourite. Congratulations to everyone who took part in this competition and we hope that it has inspired to you to pick up a pen and keep writing.