Last autumn The Herald, in association with Turnberry Resort, launched a children's short story competition.
Entrants were given a closing date of mid January, and with a brinkmanship that suggests the country is full of budding journalists, most of them filed as close to deadline as possible, thereby endangering the health of the Herald's marketing department who were watching their mail box like cats at a mouse hole.
One morning I took my share of the stories to a deep armchair. At the same time, others were doing likewise: children's novelists Elizabeth Wein and David Roberts, Heather Collins of Book Trust Scotland, and Gayle Harthill, from Turnberry Resort. There were three age groups and three titles the writers could choose from: New Beginnings, Strangers In Town, and The Holiday Secret. I had no idea what to expect but, within a day, what had looked like Annapurna was whittled down to Ailsa Craig. After that, though, it was exceedingly hard to make distinctions between the very good and the best.
In its essentials, children's writing is no different from that of adults. Sometimes an opening sentence is all it takes to know you are in the hands of a natural storyteller – and how many of these there were. It would surely hearten the minister for education, every teacher and all pessimists about the future of literature to see the standard of work submitted. There were dozens of well-written, original and lively submissions.
One of the striking things was the freshness of ideas and the innate grasp of storytelling shown by the youngest, whose imaginations were perhaps freer, or less constrained by expectation, self-consciousness, peer pressure – or worries about spelling. This spontaneity was enhanced in many cases by illustrations, and some of the artwork was superb.
There were, however, gems in every age group, and I was truly impressed. As I discovered, this was the predominant feeling of all the judges. When we met to select a shortlist of nine, from which three group winners and an overall winner would be chosen, there was some heated but, I like to think, civilised argument. And while there was no Booker-style falling out, the judges' favourites were vigorously fought for. But in one respect there was unanimity around the table: the winning story is terrific.
Many congratulations to all the following: Age 5-8: Erin Dalrymple (8), from Clydebank; Iris O'Connell (6) and Seamus O'Connell (8), Glasgow. 9-12: Ruaridh Somerville (9), Glasgow; Lucy Wilson (12), Crossford; Grace Woodhouse (9), West Kilbride. 13-17: Amy Pope (13), Dollar; Mhairi Davidson (15), Ayr; Dominique Santini (16), Aberdeen. For details and booking information for Turnberry's free Children's Book Event on Friday, April 5, where the winner will be announced, go to www.turnberry resort.co.uk/bookevent
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