Erin wins Young Writer’s award
A P7 pupil from Parkhead Primary in West Calder has been named West Lothian’s Young Writer of the Year 2017.
Erin Conway beat almost 7000 entries from 49 local primary schools to win the prestigious title with her richly-imagined story ‘Something Fishy’.
In the story, Sophie’s boring visit to Lillie’s Laundrette turns into an amazing underwater adventure when she sees sock- like fish swimming past the washing machine door.
Intrigued she opens the door and is “propelled into a beautiful new world”.
The story describes Sophie’s sometimes frightening encounters with the clothes-like fish that inhabit the strange world before returning to reality.
Over 200 guests attended the awards ceremony at Howden Park Centre in Livingston to see Erin and 25 other prize winners from local schools receive their awards from leader of West Lothian Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick; head of housing, customer and Building Services, Alistair Shaw; depute chief executive, Elaine Cook; sponsors and author and software developer, David Goutcher.
Presenting Erin with her prize, David Goutcher, said: “The excellent standard of the work throughout all the age groups was a credit to not only the children but also the work that is being done in West Lothian schools and the encouragement the children are receiving at home.
“Erin’s short story was fabulous and I’m sure she will remember the night for a very long time.
“I hope she goes on to develop her talent and I’ll be first in line to buy her books. I wish all the winners the very best of luck and hope to read more of their stories in the future.”
David also entertained the audience with a talk on how his experiences while serving as a police officer and his love of writing have influenced his current career.
He uses new and emerging technologies combined with the printed word to enhance the reading and writing experience.
His video demonstrated the cutting edge graphics he uses to bring his stories to life and he impressed the audience with his augmented reality app.
Provost Tom Kerr delivered the vote of thanks and added: “It’s great to see so many people attend the Young Writer event to celebrate the achievements of our talented and creative young writers.
“The competition is sponsored by several local and national organisations, which enables the event to be staged and provides a reward for every pupil who enters the competition, as well as providing specially selected prizes for the award winners themselves.
“I would like to thank everyone involved for their contribution and support.”
The event is organised by the council’s Library Services team, and aims to encourage creative writing, promote reading and reward effort.
The judges were S6 students from The James Young High School who had the very difficult task in selecting just 26 prize winners.
The young writers’ work is published in a special booklet and a copy is sent to each primary school and is also available from any library in West Lothian.
Erin’s short story was fabulous. I hope she goes on to develop her talent