In early July, three Oundle pupils were honoured for their outstanding joint success in the annual Orwell youth writing competition.

Entrants were able to choose a variety of writing styles, including essays, imaginative stories, journalism or poems. This year they were asked to write about the theme of “home”, exploring challenging themes such as homelessness, national identity, conflict and migration.

From an impressive range of entries from 815 young writers, readers chose a shortlist of 44 outstanding pieces of writing, which were then considered by a judging panel of Patience Agbabi, John Bernard, Charlie Higson, Vicky Spratt and Polly Toynbee.

Maxine (N) was chosen as overall winner of Years 7, 8 and 9 for her epistolary story called “Drifting Pillars”. John Bernard said, “This short story stood out to me because of its emotional depth, each line weighted with a sense of loss, longing, and hope.”

Archie (L) was the runner up for Years 7, 8 and 9 with “MacDuff the Carrot”, which he described as “a comedy about an anthropomorphised, angry, Scottish carrot and his journey from a field to the plate. With many Scottish words and Macbeth references in it.” The writer Charlie Higson wrote, “As someone who has worked a lot in comedy, I’m always on the lookout for a humorous take on a subject. This story was a funny and unexpected look at what home means… to a carrot.”

Noah (Sr) was shortlisted in Years 7, 8, 9 for his story called “The Snail and his Trail” about “a snail evacuating his homeland and traveling around Europe, he goes to many countries attempting to find a place of residence and is denied entry by them all, he ends up with no set place of residence, like many others”.

Maxine attended the Orwell Youth Prize Celebration Day at University College London, where winners took part in a creative writing workshop with John Bernard, met Orwell’s son, Richard Blair, and shared their work with an audience. As a category winner, Maxine won a cash prize and the complete works of George Orwell.

The Orwell Youth Prize is an annual writing programme for young people in Years 7-13. Each year, a theme inspired by the writings of George Orwell, encourages young people to think and write critically and creatively about the world around them and issues that matter today.