STUDENTS from The Cotswold School took on a writing challenge organised by North Cotswolds Rotary Club.

Each year Rotary organises a number of youth competitions to encourage and promote young talent.

The first round of these competitions takes place within schools, with the winners in each age category going forward to a district final, and the winners theb proceed to a national final.

This year the theme for the young writers competition was ‘A Different Perspective’, and entries could be fiction or non-fiction, a story or a poem, of around 500 words.

Over 150 students entered from The Cotswold School.

From these, students themselves selected 25 of the best to go forward to a judging panel appointed by North Cotswolds Rotary Club.

The judges, former teacher Liz Alexander and local author Mike Boyes, made initial assessments independently and then met to discuss and agree on the winners.

The winner of the senior age group category of 14 to 17 was Bethan Powell, aged 14, with an original and imaginative piece of prose, and in second place was Charlotte Davis, also aged 14, writing about soldiers on opposing sides in the First World War.

The winner of the intermediate category of 11 to 13 was Alexa Butterfield, aged 11, with a piece of writing entitled ‘A Deathly Silence’, written from the perspective of trees taking revenge on humans for cutting them down.

In second place was Victoria Kennedy, aged 12, with a well-written and original poem, and Ollie Brosch came third with a piece entitled ‘A Day in the Life of Murphy Brosch (a cat).

Alessandro Griffini, 12, Lorna Finnimore, 11, and Jasmine Shaw, 11, were highly commended.

Mike Boyes of the rotary club thanked The Cotswold School for participating in the competition and for helping the judges in their task.