Pupils make life very difficult for judges

City ‘ought to be proud to have so many talented youngsters’

The winner of the fifth Dundee Burgess charity short story competition is St John’s RC High School pupil Lewis Neilson.

Third-year pupil Lewis was picked unanimously by judges for his short story, Gold Digger.

Shortlisted competition entrants attended a prizegiving ceremony hosted by Lord Provost Ian Borthwick in the City Chambers yesterday afternoon.

Participants from all of schools within the city boundaries were eligible to take part and had to write a short piece of prose that focused on a particular theme.

This year the competition entries had to involve a character born into a close knit family living in abject poverty.

As part of the plot, a part of the family suddenly comes into a fortune, with the youngsters then having to explore how the fortune was acquired and whether the dynamic within the family changed.

Competition judge Catriona MacInnes, acting editor of The Courier, said Lewis and his fellow contestants produced stories of a very high quality.

She said: “The pupils really got to grips with the storyline and they are all to be congratulated.

“It was so tight that my fellow judges and I had a tough time deciding the order of the top three – there was a great deal of debate and discussion, but in the end it was a unanimous decision.

“The winning entry stood out because it really painted a vivid picture and the ending was perfect.

“Lewis should be really proud.” Lewis and runners-up Emily Crawford and Lucy Johnstone will all enjoy a tour of The Courier offices at Meadowside, as well as having their stories published on the newspaper’s website.

Lord Provost Ian Borthwick said the city should be proud to have so many talented youngsters.

He said: “Congratulations to all the winners who have done such an impressive job. Some of the stories were quite moving and you could tell they had all put a tremendous amount of effort into their work.”

The Burgess charity was established in 2011 by former Lord Provost John Letford and a number of business people from across the city.

Picture: Kim Cessford. Competition winner Lewis Neilson receives his trophy from Lord Provost Ian Borthwick yesterday afternoon.