BUDDING young writers from North Craven are through to the next stages of a national competition after winning their local heat on the topic of ‘my happiest day’.

Organised by The Rotary Club of Settle, the winners will now go through to the next stage of the competition to find the Rotary Young Writer of the Year.

The competition was open to all and there were three different age groups - juniors, seven to 10 years old; intermediate, 11 to 13 year olds, and seniors, 14 to 17 year olds.

Organiser of the Settle competition, former teacher, Bob Hargreaves, said judges were very impressed with some outstanding entries.

The themes of all the contestants differed profoundly as did their prose or verse, he said.

Judges were especially impressed with the final sentence of 10 year old Abigail Rice-Bowen from Giggleswick’s entry, which read: “I realised it’s not things that make you have the happiest day of your life, it’s people, and there’s nothing better than family and loved ones and I was so lucky to have mine.”

Mr Hargreaves said: “We had some outstanding entries in both the intermediate and junior age groups.

“As a former headteacher I should not have been surprised at the thoughtfulness, the breadth of expression and the literacy of the entries, but the high quality of all the entries astounded me.”

The winner of the intermediate class was Aaden Ford from Settle College.

The prizewinners in the Junior Class were: 1st - Abigail Rice-Bowen, Giggleswick Junior School; 2nd - Lucy Giles from Giggleswick Junior School, and 3rd was Tristan Rennie from Austwick Primary School.

The winners now go through to the next stage, the district final, which includes entries from Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire; and from there the winners go into the national final.

The themes of all the contestants differed profoundly as did their prose or verse.

The young writer competition is one of a number of competitions for young people organised by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.

Among the others are young artist, young chef, youth debate, young environmentalist, young filmmaker, young musician, young photographer, young citizens awards and technology tournaments.

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation.

Winners of the national final will receive a vocational experience such as working in a newspaper or publishing environment with a professional practitioner.