Keith eyes up the Competition

Keith Gray invades the blog this week to tell us this...

I've been flicking through some of the early entries for the Virtual Writer in Residence writing competition, and I've got to admit to being genuinely impressed with so much of what I've read. What's great is the variety of the pieces - everything from funny fantasy to chilling crime.

Megan from St Columbas has written a moving and atmospheric piece about strangers meeting on The 2:30 Ferry to Belfast. You could call the meeting happenstance or serendipity. Perhaps you could even call it life-saving. What a brilliant piece of writing!

Scott from Bonnyrig has submitted a nervy, twisting ghost story called I Met Jennifer Parkinson, while Susannah from Invergowrie has entered a highly imaginative tale of dragons and nomesachs.

So far stories have arrived from all over the country. Intriguing sci-fi from James at Anderson High School on Shetland; playful fable from Hannah at St Mary's In Chesterfield; brutal murder from Abu-Bakr at Ilford County High in Essex. So that's pretty much the whole of Britain, then. North, South and the bit in the middle.

It seems like every day a new and exciting story arrives at Scottish Book Trust from an enthusiastic new writer with a story to tell. Thanks so much to everybody who's taking the time to write and submit, I'm thoroughly enjoying being part of this quest to discover the best young writers out there. And for anybody who hasn't submitted yet, who just needs that little bit of a nudge to get going, there's still plenty of time to watch my podcasts and get scribbling. The deadline isn't until December 12th and here at SBT we promise to read every single story we receive. We're especially looking forward to reading that one buzzing around in your head right now...

Keith Gray
Scottish Book Trust's Virtual Writer in Residence, author of Ostrich Boys and many more.

Belatedly reported news of the week
We forgot to mention this in last week's blog, but Becky Wright from Morgan Academy was recently announced as the winner of Barrington Stoke and Dundee LEA's book blurb competition. The prize is that her winning book blurb will be turned into a book, written by bestselling author Catherine MacPhail (pictured with Becky) and published by Barrington Stoke in 2009. Here's Becky's winning blurb:

"The school was dark. Empty. Phoebe and her 5 best friends sat alone in their maths classroom getting ready for a ghostly game of hide and seek. One after another they start to go missing. Will they be able to find their friends in time to face the danger that hovers around the corner?"