A Year 9 student from St. Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe is celebrating after scooping a top literary award in The Portico Sadie Massey Awards for Young Readers and Writers.
Year 9 student Precious emerged as victor with her outstanding creative writing in the Key Stage 3 category. The awards will be presented at a prestigious award ceremony at the Portico Library in Manchester.
The Portico Sadie Massey Awards for Young Readers and Writers aim to encourage a life-long love of reading and also to celebrate the North West of England through its talented young writers.
Writing Judge Hallie Fletcher commented on the high standard of entries. “I’d like to state it was very difficult to choose as the talent was unreal; each story was diverse and really captured me,” she said. “We have a strong set of future writers. I’d love to read all their novels one day in Waterstones and other book stores. I feel unbelievably proud to have been a part of this.’
Hallie described Precious’ ‘powerful’ story as ‘a very well written piece with an important message and a heart-wrenching conclusion.’
“Wow, one word-powerful,” she said. “I imagined this to be a series on television or, better yet, a novel. The writer really explored serious themes, and I feel this should be read by every young person or even made into a short film. Based in the North of Manchester, it explores themes of friendship, knife crime and death.”
Hallie also commended Precious on tackling a difficult topic.
“I really, really enjoyed the raw darkness of this short story,” she said. “It captures the brutality of knife crime which is rife. As hard-hitting as the story is, I feel it was extremely emotional and gripping.”
English teacher Nathan Mallon praised Precious for her ‘creative, imaginative’ story.
“We are delighted with Precious’ success with her story, Love = Hate,” he said.
“It was a creative, imaginative, and beautifully written piece of writing. This is a great honour for Precious and at the same time it’s a fantastic way to improve literacy, develop writing skills and broaden the scope of reading. Precious has created a stunning piece of work.”
English teacher and Literacy Lead Jamie Sharrock underlined the importance of writing and literature at St. Paul’s.
“We are so delighted with Precious’ success in this competition and proud of her talent for writing. As an English department, we work hard to encourage a rich literary and creative writing community,” he said.
“Precious produced some really impressive and descriptive writing and she deserves to be proud of herself for beating some difficult competition.”
Deputy Headteacher Mike Whiteside spoke of the school’s pride at Precious’ award. “Precious is well aware of the magic of reading and creative writing and has been able to convey that love of language in her award-winning story,” he said.
“We are all very proud of Precious and are looking forward to reading more of her work. As a school, we are very keen to inspire in our students a love of books and the written word.”