Winners of a children’s short story competition have been announced at a special event at Yeovil Library.
Organised by Yeovil Community Arts Association (YCAA) and Somerset County Council Library service the competition saw children write short 500 word stories on the theme of ‘Broken’. Children in years 5 and 6 in schools in Yeovil and the surrounding area were invited to enter the competition.
Entries were judged by bestselling Children’s author John Dougherty who also presented the prizes to the children.
The competition winner was Madeline Levey of Preston School in Yeovil and runners up were Gracie Wallis of Milford Junior School and Matthew Harris, also of Preston Primary School. Prizes included cash and a special tour and coaching session at Yeovil Town Football Club for each winning pupil’s class.
Pupils and teachers from the prize winning schools attended the event. Also present were the shortlisted candidates from Countess Gytha Primary School and Ilchester Community Primary School.
Paula Hewitt, Director at Somerset County Council who has responsibility for Libraries, said: “We were delighted to host the prize giving ceremony in Yeovil Library for the second year running in an effort to reward the creative skills of local young people. All of the children that entered the competition have done fantastically well to write a 500 word short story and I hope they feel inspired to keep on writing.”
A spokesperson for the Yeovil Community Arts Association (YCAA), said: “We at YCAA sincerely believe that the library is the right place for this event, to be surrounded by books and to show those who haven’t been in before what a lovely place our library is. We do really hope that we can hold it again next year as it was such an undoubted success.”
The three winning stories can be read below:
© Somerset County Council 2020
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