FOUR Marks and Medstead Rotary has hosted its fifth annual Young Writer Awards presentation and reception at Bentworth village hall – with some remarkable results.

Attended by pupils of Bentworth, Chawton, Four Marks and Medstead primary schools, the winner of the competition, for junior school pupils (aged seven to 11) was Lily Cave for a magical and thought-provoking take on the subject of ‘Our Beautiful World’.

Eleven-year-old Four Marks pupil Lily’s entry has since gone on to take first place from among the 19 junior category entries in the district competition. Rotary District 1110, of which Four Marks and Medstead is part, covers most of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, and part of Dorset and Wiltshire.

Now, Lily’s story awaits judging at the national finals this week.

In honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday, Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland also hosted ‘A Poem for HM The Queen’s 90th Birthday’ competition to run alongside the Young Writer competition. The district-winning poems, 26 in total, were assembled into a book and sent to the palace in April. Oscar Forshaw, from Chawton Primary School, took first place at the local level.

According to Four Marks and Medstead Rotary Club chairman Lisa Hillan, each year Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland hosts a number of competitions for young people, including Young Writer. The competition begins at the local level, with individual Rotary clubs inviting entries. The entries are then scored by a panel of three judges, including a professional author. The top entry then advances to the district level. Then each district sends one winning entry for judging at the national finals.

Four Marks and Medstead Rotary has been organising a competition since 2012 in the junior category (age seven to 11). Categories also exist for intermediate (age 11 to 13) and senior students (age 14 to 17).

This year’s topic was ‘Our World Is Beautiful’, and submissions could be prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction. In February, the judges received 135 entries from the four primary schools. Both Four Marks and St Mary’s in Bentworth incorporated the essay directly into their writing curriculum. Chawton and Medstead schools invited entries as an extra-curricular project.

The judging team was led by Sarah Lucas, author of the Snail Trail series and founder of Putting Pen to Paper, a writing initiative for primary-age children. She was supported by Rotarians and former teachers Helen Allen-Rogers and Lisa Hillan.

Lisa said: “In 2012, 2014 and again this year, the local winner has gone on to win at the district level. The 2014 entry went on to take third place nationally. Three district winners in five years is no small feat, and this speaks well for the calibre of writing and teaching in our local primary schools.”

This year’s judges had an extremely difficult task but after the judging process ended up choosing the same entry as the winner.

All participants receive a certificate, and the “honourable mention” writers and finalists also receive a cash prize.

The honourable mention entries came from Kyree Collins (Bentworth), Giada Crothers (Four Marks), Rose Edmunds (Bentworth), Jazzy Jurado (Bentworth), Charlie Kavanagh (Bentworth), Evie Moran (Four Marks), Daisy Mundy (Medstead), Ciara Rossiter (Four Marks), Harry Saunders (Medstead), Heidi Voller (Medstead), and Amelie Withers (Bentworth).

The finalists read aloud their entries to everyone gathered.

Lisa said: “The vivid imagery, creative narratives and powerful messages proved touching and meaningful. One could not help but delight in the imagination and talent of these young writers.”

The finalists were Lily Cave (Four Marks), Jaden Cooper (Chawton), Jessie Crawford (Four Marks), Orla Gange (Four Marks), Edward Kitching (Chawton), Harriet Tommony (Bentworth), Caitlin Willcocks (Medstead), and Megan Young (Bentworth).

Lily’s winning entry:

ONCE, at the beginning of time, there was only dragons. They created the sun, the stars and the planets. Everything was peaceful, there was no fighting. They created a planet called Earth.

On Earth, mountains were so high they touched the clouds, beaches looked like they were strewn with gold dust. The seas were cobalt blue, the trees emerald green. The sky was blue as the palest sapphire, or at night covered with constellations so bright it was like gems twinkling. It was beautiful and mysterious with ice caves filled with ice, light dancing inside as if it knew some hidden secret...

It was populated with wondrous creatures, in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colours. Polar bears as big as small mountains, snakes curling along the ground like ribbon. Wolves silver as the stars themselves. It was a beautiful, beautiful world.

One day, the humans came along. They were rather silly, at first. But slowly they became wiser and wiser. They started to scar the Earth. They chopped down the emerald trees. They dug the bright gems from the Earth. They built huge structures that stood out like warts on the ground. Slowly and painfully they ruined the wonderful world.

The stars got covered up by the smog. The mountains sank to the size of hills. The lives of animals slowly blinked out till there were hardly any left. The humans fought each other – they built tanks and bombs to settle arguments. The planet Earth became a heaving mass of destruction and pain. The few good souls were silenced. The dragons had to intervene.

There was a huge war. The dragons and humans were mortal enemies. Both sides fought till there wasn’t much left. But in the end the dragons came out top. Though they weren’t left with much to work with.

The dragons slowly and softly nurtured the Earth back to health. They brought the animals back. The dragons decided no more extra clever species, only them.

There is a place called Earth. It has mountains that are so high they touch the clouds, and beaches like gold dust. The seas are cobalt blue, the trees with emerald leaves. The skies are blue as the palest sapphire, or at night covered with constellations so bright it is like gems twinkling. Ice caves are filled with ice, light dancing inside because it knows a hidden secret. It told the secret to the wolves who filled the night with a song of that secret. The secret of what was before.

The lions shouted it over the Savannah plains, in a mighty roar. The mice whispered it in the corners till it was no secret anymore. There had been a war, with unimaginable consequences – but some good came out of it. Dragons roar in the skies, and spread a soft blanket of peace. The dragons roar out: “This is our world. And our world is beautiful.”

Our World Is Beautiful

By Lily Cave