Competition showcases short story skills of pupils in Berwick
More than 100 pupils from schools at all levels in Berwick and beyond entered Berwick Rotary’s Short Story Competition during the town’s Literary Festival.
Scremerston Primary School sent in entries for the first time, whilst Hugh Joicey Primary School in Ford competed strongly against schools in the town, all giving the judges a hard task in choosing the winners.
Taking the 200th anniversary of the pier and lighthouse as a theme, over 20 stories were read by nearly all the young writers to an audience of families and friends in Berwick Town Hall on October 10 before the final prize-giving.
In the junior section, Sadie Slater (Holy Trinity Primary) came first followed by second-equals Amelie Speakman-Brown (Hugh Joicey) and Lyle Russell (Prior Park Primary).
In the middle (under 13) years it was a close choice between winner Sophie Skeen (Longridge Towers School) and Kacper Artymiuk (Holy Trinity Primary) and Alphie Thompson (Prior Park Primary).
In the senior school section, it was a difficult decision between the very different entries - a dream-like story of being lost at sea but guided home by the lighthouse by Violet Achard (Longridge Towers) and the overall winner Zack Richards (Berwick Academy), who added a third win to his successes in 2024 and 2025 with a strong history-based story about the balance between change and permanence.
“I’ve nothing but praise for all the story-writers and thanks for their parents and teachers who organised the writing, and everyone who read and helped judge the entries” said Stevie Crozier, who organised the competition for Berwick Rotary.
“The range of imagination and the great ways people use language make reading these stories a real pleasure. There's so much good story-making here, so please keep on writing!”
The competition has formed part of the Berwick Literary Festival since its launch in 2014 and the Rotary organisers look forward to a strong competition in 2027.