SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2015

Winners

Thank you very much to the Judges of this years Writing Competition.

They had no clue as to the identities of the writers but used their expertise to select the winners.
The most entries were in Class 1 : Primary 1-3.
The winner of the £30 First Prize was Kalani Anderson for the story ‘The Red Panda’; Runner up and winner of £20 was Fraser Young for ‘The Crazy Eliminator’. ‘My Dance Show ‘ by Hayley Young, My summer Holiday in 2015’ by Lucy Craig and ‘My Trip to Edinburgh Zoo’ by Hannah Smith were judged to be of equal merit and will all receive Third Prizes of £10 each.
There was only one entry in both Class 2: Primary 4-7 and Class 3: Secondary but the judges had no doubt they were worthy winners and no hesitation in awarding
First Prizes of £30 to ‘The Most Excellent Day’ by Kimi Anderson and ‘My Movie Experience’ by Imogen Graham.
The Adult winner was ‘Knickerbocker Glory’ by Anne Hollingsworth and the runner-up was Gordon Burns for ‘Childhood, Petrichor’. Thank you to all our entrants.
We would have liked to have seen more, especially from the adults. We thought they would welcome the chance to share childhood memories.
Next year’s Writing Competition will be a Poetry Competition. The classes are the same as this year for a poem on any subject, any length. The closing date will be July 31st 2016 so there is lots of time to either be inspired or dig out something you have already written.

WINNING ENTRIES

Primary 1-3 Winner

The Red Panda

One of my best memories was going to the Highland Wildlife Safari Park with my family. We had never been there before so it was really exciting. There were loads of different animals that we had never seen before like Polar Bears, Snow Owls and Red Pandas. The Red Pandas were my favourite because they were so cute. You probably think that Red Pandas belong to the bear family but they actually belong to the racoon family. Red Pandas are not really red they are more gold and brown with a touch of white around the eyes. When it gets cold a Red Panda curls its long, furry and stripey tail around its body to keep warm.

Kalani Anderson Age 7

Primary 4-7 Winner

The Most Excellent Day

I woke up on a sunny Saturday morning, all excited for the most excellent day of my life. It was the day of the fete. When I was getting changed out of my pyjamas into my clothes I was thinking of all the massive tubs of candy-floss, and all the huge cones filled with the fantastic Mr Whippys ice-cream. But before the fete I had a Glee rehearsal. I had to practise extra hard in rehearsals because in the real show I had a solo!

As-quick-as-a-flash, it was time to go to the fete. The fete was “ EXTREMELY” busy! I can remember when I went to one of the stalls everyone was pushing and shoving me, because they really wanted to get to the front of the queue. After that I think I went to get some of my favourite ice-cream, Mr Whippy. It was so yummy. My mum makes tablet and truffles so she had her own stall at the fete. I went and sat down next to my Mum and had a drink. When I was sitting down next to my Mum, when she wasn’t looking, I took a truffle and then a bit of tablet, they are scrumptious. I also remember playing some games with some of my friends. Then I started to get tired so I sat down again and had another drink. When I went to look at my watch it was time for my Glee concert. I said ‘Goodbye ‘ to all my friends and got into the car.

15 mins later we were at Perth Concert Hall. It wasn’t really a long time to the Show and I was really nervous but I knew that everything was going to be fine. My solo was in a song called Love Me Again by John Newman. One of my old friends Frea also had a solo in the same song. Frea and I were rehearsing for our solos when our friends came up to us and said ‘We are all going to sit down and watch a movie’. I think we watched a movie all about dragons. We also had something to eat and drink. About two hours later it was time for the show to begin. I had loads of butterflies in my stomach. I was really nervous. I had some money with me so that when the show took a break I could go and get some ice-cream. In the show we also sang Hey Brother, Proud Mary and Caledonia. My mum, dad, brother, auntie and uncle were all there watching and listen- ing to me. About an hour later the show had finished and it was time for me to go home. It was an excellent day!

Kimi Anderson Age 10

Secondary Schools  Winner

MY MOVIE EXPERIENCE

People seem to think that being in a movie is easy, and the editors and the directors are the only ones doing the work. But I can say that from my experience that the actors do a lot of work too.

I was asked by the theatre group that I attend, to have the role as a child assassin in the local movie ‘Time Teens’ filmed in Perthshire. And members of my family were offered the role as extras. When we got there my family members were given Victorian costumes while I was taken aside with another girl from my theatre group and told that we are twin assassins and we were given matching costumes.

While all the extras were waiting we were getting makeup done to look as white as a sheet. After that the cameraman (who happened to be very nice and funny) told us to walk down a small alleyway past all the extras. A very simple short scene that ended up taking about 30 takes. Not because we were doing anything wrong, but because the cameraman had to get a shot from every possible angle. And that was the same for EVERY other scene. It was fun but very tiring. After a couple of hours (and walking round Perth dressed as a Victorian assassin) we were told that we only had one scene left but that had to be at night (as it was a killing scene). So we sat around and waited, and waited, and waited. By about 11 we started filming. And by 12 we were leaving.

I was called back on a few other occasions. Some were fun like filming in Perth Academy and shooting blow darts at victims. Some were not as fun like more alleyway scenes resulting in 30 takes.

But it is fair to say that the experience was wonderful. Having to make laughing and crying sounds in the microphone for the sound crew. Having fun with the directors and the actors also in the film. All together I had a ball.

And when it came to the big film premier on the IMAX screen at Perth. wearing suits, fancy dresses, and as many chains as you can fit round your neck, I was thrilled watching myself on the big screen.

After this experience I had a lot more respect for actors in big movies complaining that they work so hard. Because now I realise that they probably do.

This is my experience of being a child actor and despite all the work I had a great time and I hope that there will be more films for me to do in the future.

Imogen Graham Age 12

Adult Section Winner

KNICKERBOCKER GLORY.

I was born in 1942 so most of my childhood was spent with rationing. There was only one kind of National margarine, National bread, no cream and very little butter. Everyone was the same and this was completely normal to us.

We still had our treats.

My mother would take us shopping in Lewis’s Department Store which had a Soda Fountain in the basement. My sister and I were thrilled to get a sixpenny ice-cream in a dish. This would be 2½p in today’s money.

The pinnacle of the menu was a Knickerbocker Glory. This was in a tall sundae glass with ice-cream, red jelly, tinned fruit and topped with a whirl of synthetic cream. This sumptuous creation cost a whopping Two Shillings and Sixpence (12½p) and was clearly so far beyond our wildest dreams that we didn’t even ask for one.

It is very sad that, now I am in my seventies, even as a pensioner, I could afford a Knickerbocker Glory. But I don’t want one. It sounds revolting.

The Moral. Perhaps a dream is better than the reality.

But I do feel that if a child yearns for something, and you can afford it, it is nice to fulfil their dream.

Childhood passes and adults learn the hard way that you cannot always have what you want. But it is very nice to have treats to sweeten the hard facts of life.

Anne Hollingsworth Adult section.