Ely College students are preparing to unleash their imaginations for a creative writing competition launched in conjunction with the Ely News.

As part of our literacy drive launched last term, we have joined up with the local newspaper to run a short story competition. All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will be taking part and the rules are... there are no rules! Students can write a piece of fiction on any subject they choose.

The only stipulation is that the stories must be no longer than 600 words. They will have until 6th May to write their stories, after which a judging panel – made up of Ely News Editor Wendy Davey and Reporter Jordan Day, along with College Principal Evelyn Forde, Head of English Emma King and Anne Shaw, from the Learning Resource Centre – will begin the task of reading and selecting the winners. Prizes will be awarded in four categories: one for each year group and one for Special Educational Needs students.

Ely News Editor Wendy Davey said: “We are passionate about writing and literacy and so when we heard the college was launching a literacy drive earlier in the year we thought it was a great opportunity to link up and have some fun. It’s a great way of encouraging students to have a go... try a style of writing they might not have tried before, and let their imaginations take over."

“We hope the students will enjoy this project and we’re very much looking forward to reading the stories they write. You never know, we may even discover a future author!”

The winning students’ work will be published on the Ely News website, along with two runners up in each category, and the winning four stories will be published in the paper.

Ely College Principal Evelyn Forde said: “We were thrilled when the Ely News approached us about their idea of a story competition. The timing has been perfect as we are working hard to improve literacy throughout the school. Whether students have a natural flair for writing stories or not, the chance to produce a piece of creative writing is often very appealing and imaginations go wild!"

“We shall launch the competition this week during our Year 7, 8 and 9 assemblies and I am proud to be on the judging panel with other colleagues from the college. This initiative gives us a fantastic opportunity to share with readers some of the talent we have here at Ely College”.