Young Authors 2024 Competition Winners
Mermaid of Stone
by Imogen
Key stage 1 winner
Once there was a beautiful bluey-purple tailed mermaid swimming down the Medway. But a Fremlin gremlin was hiding in the bushes. The Fremlin gremlin did not like sparkly mermaids, so when she swam forwards he poured a magic stone potion on her head and very slowly, but oh so slowly, it crackled over her, turning her to stone.
Then the Fremlin gremlin danced in celebration. He almost fell into the water he was so excited! Did you not know there was a kind gremlin hiding in one of the small trees dotting the Medway?
The kind gremlin stole the potion while the Fremlin gremlin was dancing. He crept up behind him and poured the potion on top of him. The bad gremlin crackled to stone just like the mermaid.
The kind gremlin thought “this is good. I have turned the bad gremlin to stone. But right now, I have just got two statues. So I need to do my reverse spell.
"Crackle, crackle,
Wrackle, wrackle,
We’ll take you in reverse.
Crackle, crackle,
Wrackle, wrackle,
We’ll lift the curse."
The mermaid woke up yawning and then gasped. She did not know what had just happened. She felt just amazing, just like a newborn child.
Today, Maidstone is named Maidstone because of the mermaid of stone and if you come across a gremlin statue holding a potion, you will know why.
The End.
The Turtley Amazing Dream
by Emilia
Key stage 2 winner
Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Tilly. She lived in Maidstone and she was very passionate about reading. She loved reading so much all her spare time was always spent in Maidstone Library.
One day while she was placing a book back on its shelf, she spotted a mysterious book called ‘Marvellous Magic’. Tilly immediately wanted to read all about it, so she sank down into a beanbag and flipped through the pages.
Her eye suddenly caught on a picture of a Turtle. She thought to herself “I do really love turtles, maybe I can have a little peek’’. So, she turned over the page to have a look.
She saw in bold writing, ‘How to turn into a turtle’. This was a dream come true. This was her chance to meet her favourite animal face to face. So, she set herself on a quest to find the ingredients for her potion. Her quest would start with going past Gallagher Stadium to get to Whatman Park to get the ingredients.
So, she left the library and started her walk to Whatman. After a while, she arrived at the park and made her way to the pond to find some frogspawn and then got some bark from the playground floor.
After she had stirred the ingredients together, it was finally time to pour some of the potion onto herself.
She gave it a few seconds for it to do its magic and poof in a puff of smoke Tilly was a Turtle! She threw herself into The River Medway and she soon swam to Allington Lock and managed to find a big opening of water and found other TURTLE’S!!! She met Tony, Tiny, and Tina. The four of them played for hours on end and soon became the best of friends.
Soon something very unexpected happened… Tilly found out she would be a turtle forever unless her friends helped her. She needed to re-drink her potion, but she had dropped it when she turned into a turtle. Her new friends wanted to help her, so they set on a new quest to find the potion.
They ventured back through the Lock and back to Whatman. They found the place Tilly had transformed and checked the bottom of the river for the potion. Then Tiny suddenly shouted, “FOUND IT!!!’’ So, we all splashed over to him, Tilly reached under and poured the remains into her beak. But to her surprise it didn’t work. Tilly knew it was time to head back to the library to turn back into a girl again. But she knew it was time to say goodbye to her Turtley Amazing friends. So she waved goodbye to Tony, Tina and Tiny. “Goodbye” said Tony and Tiny, “Fairwell” said Tina. “Bye” answered Tilly. As her splashy friends swam off in to the distance.
She turned back to head to the library, so she flapped along with her flippers and had to go back past the Gallagher Stadium. But since she was a turtle she knew she would need water soon and decided the quickest way to the library would be to go through the stadium. It would be dangerous as the footballers were playing. This was going to be hard thought Tilly but she was determined to do it, so off she went flapping her way across the pitch. Tilly weaved around Raphe Brown and Liam Sole and dodged Gavin Houte and finally skidded past Sam Corne. “Finally,” thought Tilly, "the nightmare is over, I've reached the other side of the pitch."
But suddenly as she flapped away the world around her was starting to disappear. Tilly felt her eyes close and then blink open again. When she opened them she was a girl again sitting in her bed at home. She sat wondering what had happened and then realised her amazing adventure must have been a dream. Well, it was a wonderful dream she thought.
She glanced at her alarm clock and realised the library would soon be open. Tilly visited the library and they were holding a story writing competition. Tilly decided to write about her dream and at the end of the day she had finished writing and handed it in to enter the competition.
The next day the stories had been judged and they were ready to announce the winner. “The winner is Tilly with her turtley amazing dream.” Tilly was buzzing with excitement, she had won and she thanked all the judges.
The End or is it……………
Rooftop
by Bella
Key stage 3 winner
‘When you feel your whole world crashing down sometimes all you need is retail therapy’. That is the most relatable quote I have ever heard, but on Saturday 4 September it was a bit more than just retail therapy.
“I am not going in that elevator!” I exclaimed.
“Well then you’ll just have to mount the stairs,” mum replied.
I hate it when Mum and I fight but my fear of elevators was not going to overcome today, especially not in some filthy lift in the middle of the Chequers Centre. My claustrophobic nightmare will just have to stay for now.
Once I had ‘mounted’ the stairs I reached the rooftop, I realised I had gone too far and beyond the level we were parked on. But, I didn’t want to leave, especially when I saw a lonely boy who was perched at the edge of the roof. I felt bad for him constantly at school, but he was the only person I could relate to. He was known for his problems, but he seemed genuine. He was so relatable because he always seemed alone. I always have people around me, but I always feel alone. I suffer just as bad as he does but I keep it controlled under a fake smile and carry on with the rest of my life as if nothing happened. When my head gets too loud, I hide away just like he does. He seemed so innocent like the world was ready to be his, but it got stolen from the palm of his hands.
I approached the edge of the roof and asked, “Tom Matthews, right?” I paused… “I’m Elizabeth Green”
He was terrified, I didn’t like terrifying him. “Yes?” he replied.
I never talked to Tom before, but only two minutes into talking with him I was already comfortable. There was a gaze in his eyes which made me want to stay, it made me want to comfort him.
It was awkward at first but there was already a connection between us.
“I know why I am like this Beth” he muttered.
No one had called me that before; it was sweet and somewhat refreshing. I found it necessary to appreciate why he found everyday life so difficult. I knew that he felt embarrassed when he tried to explain, but he noticed that I was ready to listen to him for hours. I was prepared to understand his situation, but I never quite understood how he went from a popular boy at school to a nobody. He was never really the stereotypical kind of popular boy, but I never thought he would get rejected from them.
He began to explain… “When my head got filled with emotions I could not physically process, I began to distance myself. But I didn’t believe that I would end up alone.” Tears began to fall from his eyes, but he kept wiping them away, trying to be tough.
I questioned over and over again like a cycle, why his head became too loud for him to begin to lose everyone in his life. Then I remembered the comments discriminated against him while he was in that friendship group, but in reality, it wasn’t a true friendship.
“I lost all self esteem.” He continued.
It begins to make sense to me now how his life was so difficult because of people who make others' lives miserable. I wanted to save him from everyone and everything but first, I had to save him from himself.
He became quiet.
Why did she seem so concerned? She wanted to heal me, but I’d only known her for a short while. I wanted to know her. The way she talked to me was warming, I have trust in her.
Her body language was open, it suggested that she was being friendly and had a caring heart. How could she be this open to me, a boy who didn’t even know what emotions he was feeling? She was too delightful and tender for me to give her all these horrible, harsh emotions which I carry with me.
“You didn’t deserve that.” Beth said to me
My heart skipped a beat when she smiled at me. I lifted my head. I looked out from the rooftop and took a breath, seeing all around me. From the families shopping in Fremlin’s Walk to the teenagers gathering in Brenchley Gardens; I saw life.