Lochaber pupils give peace a chance in Rotary literary competition
Young writers from across the region have been practising their literary skills in a wholly peaceful manner over the last year for the annual Lochaber Rotary creative writing and poetry competition, writes Fiona Scott.
Aimed at local youngsters aged between seven and 17, the competition gives the students an opportunity to put their writing skills to the test.
This year’s topic was “peace” and generated 90 entries – split between three categories – Junior, Intermediate and Senior.
Winner of the Junior level competition was eight-year old Annie Strachan from Spean Bridge Primary whose short piece of prose describing “seven peaceful scenes” went down well with the judges.
Runner-up was Marcus Bodkin, age 10, with his clever description of “feelings” of peace.
The Intermediate level (11- 13) was won by 13-year-old Aidan Patterson from Lochaber High with a powerful story of peace and reconciliation.
Second place went to Rowan MacLean, 12, with her simple but touching poem “Peace and You”.
Competition was particularly intense at the Senior level (14-17), and any one out of about 10 entries would have been a very worthy winner.
After lengthy consideration the judges chose 14-year old Lochaber High School’s Elodie Place’s sensitive essay contrasting 1914 with 2022, followed by 15-year old Charleigh Adams’ haunting poem entitled “My Home, My Peace”.
The three winners of the local heats will now be entered into the Rotary District competition – Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
Rotary president Simon Hardiman said he was impressed by the amount of writing talent in the area and pleased with the high number of entries.
In presenting each of the winners with a voucher for £30 and a Certificate of Merit, and a £20 voucher for the runners-up, Simon added: “Communication skills are one of the most sought-after attributes looked for by employers.
“Our competition engages well with students and gives them the inspiration to write.
“Well done Elodie, Aiden and Annie as well as runners-up Charleigh, Rowan and Marcus.”