Congratulation to the Creative Writing Challenge winners!
The winners of The Lowry’s first annual Creative Writing Challenge were announced at a special celebration on Thursday 18th May.
Presented by Manchester-based actor, writer, and director Carla Henry, with performances by poet Tony Walsh, the 16 shortlisted entries were performed on the Quays stage at The Lowry, Salford.
The competition was open to children aged 7-11 (Key Stage 2) from across Salford and Greater Manchester, and the judges had the difficult task of shortlisting from almost 400 entries in three categories – Script, Poetry and Short Story.
Winners and runners-up, respectively, include: Salome Samuel (age 10) for Freya’s Amazing Adventures and Ruby Lee (age 10) for Alien in Manchester – in the Script category; Layla Wood (age 11) with The Journey and Peter McColgan (age 10) with The Lonely Man – in the Poetry category; Gabriela Kulacz (age 11) for In The Box and Maryam Akram (age 10) for Return To Kandahar – in the Short Story category. A special Founders Prize was also awarded by Beryl Jones to Hawa Chowdhury (age 9) for The Adventure of The Oak Tree and Charlie Grieve (age 10) for The Rivers Adventure.
All shortlisted children received a certificate and book token, with the winners also receiving an original illustration created by artist and illustrator Catherine Booth.
Layla, a pupil at Marlborough Road Academy (Salford), whose poem The Journey was inspired by refugees traveling to unknown places, said: “My school teacher entered my piece into the competition. It was fun. I made a lot of new friends and enjoyed watching the other pieces being performed. Getting up on stage was nerve-wracking but the moment I began to read my poem all the nerves disappeared. This has inspired me to write even more and enter more writing competitions. The whole experience has boosted my confidence.”
Carla Henry, who also acted as one of the competition judges, said: “What a pleasure and privilege to have been part of The Lowry’s first ever Creative Writing Challenge. Fabulous memories were made! It was beautiful to see such creative and talented young people sharing their words with such confidence and joy. I felt so proud and inspired!”
Tony Walsh, another member of the judging panel, added: “It’s been a delight and an inspiration to be involved with the first Creative Writing Challenge with The Lowry. The competition uncovered a huge wealth of young writing talent in all parts of Greater Manchester. To see many of them visiting The Lowry, some of them for the first time, and even taking to its famous stage to share their work, was a night which will live long in the memory.”
The Lowry’s Creative Writing Challenge is delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity dedicated to raising literacy levels across the UK.
Mike Leyland, Programme Manager of the National Literacy Trust, commented: “It was an absolute privilege to join as a judge for this fantastic challenge and meet the young writers at the awards ceremony. It was so inspiring to see the incredible work they produced as research from the National Literacy Trust shows that children who enjoy writing outside school are seven times more likely to write above the expected level for their age. Our partnership with The Lowry is invaluable as projects like this play a vital role in supporting children’s literacy, encouraging them to find a love of reading, writing, speaking and listening, that will last a lifetime.”
The competition has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Beryl Jones, who along with her husband Trevor is a Gold Patron of The Lowry. The launch of this new award is timely given the post-pandemic need for support in education and creativity being greater than ever.
Julia Fawcett OBE, CEO of The Lowry, said: “We feel so passionately about the creation of this prize. To be able to encourage the creativity and confidence of the next generation of writers and performers is a true privilege. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Beryl and Trevor Jones whose generosity has made this possible.”
Beryl Jones explained: “I am dedicated to encouraging children’s creativity and removing any barriers they may experience to enjoying and creating great literature. Thank you to the team at The Lowry for launching the Creative Writing Challenge this year. I look forward to working with them to grow it in the future. Seeing the children present their work on stage at The Lowry was a true joy and my dream come true.”
Good work everyone – this makes the future of writing a little stronger