Thank you to everyone that voted for your favourite stanzas and story paragraphs - time to announce the winners! I'd just like to say that I thought all of the young (and slightly more mature!) people that took part this year are very talented, such a high standard this year. But winners there must be so..........:

Poetry 

1st  Bacon's College, UK

2nd Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur

Secondary School

1st  Bedford Girls School,…

Well what a roller coaster 3 weeks this has been! Absolutely fantastic writing and poetry contributions, such talented young people, I feel very privileged to have been able to work with all of them. Difficult for me to pick up highlights (I love every minute of Write Path!) but my video calls with the boys and girls in Louisiana and New York shine out and the wonderful videos and photos that have appeared on the ning have made me smile every day. Grown ups day is going on as I write , my…

The park was very noisy. Teams of teenagers played football on the wide grassy area beside the river. Young children played on the swings and roundabouts while their mothers gossiped on the park benches. A huge, green sit-down lawnmower was roaring and clanking close to the flower beds.

The weather was warm and sunny. Anyone looking up into the sky would have seen a clean, clear…

The Broken City 

The soldier crept along the ruined street, his assault rifle held tightly in his trembling hands. He glanced up at the buildings on all sides, convinced for a moment that he saw movement there. But the broken windows were dark and still.

He tried the walkie-talkie again, speaking his call sign in a…

‘Oil of Evening Primrose Rich Moisturising Cream’ the label reads. It sounds like it should have a strong smell and that’s all I care about. It doesn’t have to be a nice smell, just a distinctive one. I’ll make sure I use lashings of it every day I’m away, then never use it again. I need another jar for when I come back. I’ll keep that second jar for at least a year before I open it, then when I do, and I smell the smell, the memories of…

I look at myself in the gloomy depths of the mirror. I’m not tall, and I’m quite skinny, but even with my toes bunched up my feet are too long to fit into a pair of glass slippers. I have grown my hair as long as I can, but instead of resembling a waterfall of gold, or the tossing waves of the midnight ocean, I know it looks more like something you’d find hanging from the belly of a beige yak.…

The planet below them was blue and green, just like the Earth. Most of the planets the exploration team visited weren’t like that. They were rocky and airless, with nothing living at all.

            Lower and lower went the Nightstar. Jez, the navigator, was looking for a safe place to land.  Madge, the ship’s commander, concentrated hard on the…

The man is waiting at the end of my drive. I've never seen him before in my life, but I swear, he looks familiar. He reminds me a bit of my dad, but his hair is darker, like mine. He's got a scar like mine too, across his nose. I got mine playing football; I wonder where he got his. He waves at me and I scratch my scar, the way I do when I'm nervous.…

Clouds hide the stars tonight,

Just as my smile, so bright,

Conceals my grieving heart.

Orphaned, bereft,

yet knowing the joy that left…

The Ballad of Sam  (Who Wanted to be a Star)

 ‘I want to be a star,’ said Sam,

‘A rich and famous star.

I’d like to have a great big house,

A pool, a horse, a…

I'd like to be a movie star.
I'd like to learn to play guitar.
I'd like to fly a fighter jet.
I'd like a tiger for a pet.

The Martian Landing!

My rocket blasted for the stars

I'll be the first to land on Mars

The first to stand on Martian soil

The first to start the endless toil…

The Tent

 I once cut a hole in my tent, to sleep beneath the sky,

I wanted to feel like a sailor of old - using the stars as a guide.

Dad said the hole was an error, the design of my tent unsound,…

The Light in the Dark

Night-time is as bright

As day in many strange ways,

Brighter than a cloud.

Look at a star shine,…

I look at myself in the gloomy depths of the mirror. I'm not tall, and I'm quite skinny, but even with my toes bunched up my feet are too long to fit into a pair of glass slippers. I have grown my hair as long as I can, but instead of resembling a waterfall of gold, or the tossing waves of the midnight ocean, I know it looks more like something you’d find hanging from the belly of a beige yak.…

It looked like an ordinary door but Gerry knew it wasn’t at all ordinary.  He reached out and touched it.  Nothing happened.  He pushed at it but still nothing happened.  He stood for a moment trying to find the courage to turn the handle. 

“I can do it, I can!” he told himself.

He reached out and touched the handle…

THE TOY FACTORY 

When he had woken up, Ben was convinced today would be a magical day.  Now he was on his way to school - not very magical, admittedly, but it was a crisp autumnal morning and Ben and magic was very much in the air.  He couldn’t resist kicking mounds of fallen leaves that nestled along the path.  A particularly large pile caught his attention…

She had never seen a tree so huge. It loomed above her like the towers of her native city. But their surfaces were smooth and shiny. This living statue was cut with fissures deep enough to swallow a squadron of warriors. The sky was all but blotted out by its leaves. Around her, the roots rose and fell in a giant maze that almost made her dizzy. They reminded her of foothills that only hinted of the mountains above. She quickly turned around,…

The footsteps thudded behind him. He glanced back. Nobody there. He peered into the gathering dusk, paused, listened, but there was no sign of anyone following him. He shrugged and took a few steps then there it was again. This time he was determined to see who it was. He continued along the street for another thirty seconds, gradually slowing his pace, then he spun round...and gasped.…

Whispers from the Ether

 Rising from the ground

In sibilant ether waves,

Essences of people

Exit from their graves.

He sees…