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Extended Deadline - Closing Date: Friday 20th of April 2018

Creative Writing Competition for Secondary Schools

Your students are invited to enter Stranger Sagas, the latest, fantastic creative writing competition from Young Writers.

We provide a tantalizing selection of story starters each term intended to inspire your students to write a mini-saga, a story written in just 100 words! Each story starter sentence can be interpreted as the students wish, so how will they develop the story? What genre will students choose to write in? After all, every great story deserves a great ending...

See what others think of Stranger Sagas…

"An incredibly inspiring and motivational process for our students. Thank you."

A. Wilkings Buckingham

"Our students were excited to be given an opportunity to participate and will aim to have more entries next year."

S. Joandel Birmingham

"Lovely resources. Engaging video. "

A. Snow Blyth

"An excellent idea which the students found very engaging!"

E. Connell Dartford

"A great way to engage students!"

J. Gratton Bolton

"Pupils LOVED these sentence starters - they wished they could write more than 100 words!"

F. Scott Newport

"Can't wait until the next competition!"

T. Smart London

"Our students love doing your competitions. Thank you!"

M. Mudie Ipswich

"Wonderful contest, the entry form layout makes it really accessible!"

A. Douglas Edinburgh

"A great competition, really inspired interest and excitement in our school book club!"

E. Mackellar Cramlington

"A broad range of options and lots of ideas generated. We love your sagas competitions!"

D. Johnson Gravesend

"The sentence starters were great models as well as the sample story."

L. McLead London

"An excellent opportunity for students to practice thinking about every word, sentence and punctuation choice they make - Thank you!"

N. Salmon Reading

"Fantastic competition! My students love 'Stranger Things' and loved this task!"

A. Daya Handsworth

"This activity provided a great, fun challenge for our budding writers."

J. Hill Grays

"This has been a very enjoyable exercise for the students and they have learnt about drifting and choices of vocabulary."

A. Jones London

"This was a great activity to motivate some of our more reluctant writers - thank you Young Writers!"

R. Phillips Cheshire

"This is such an engaging idea - very popular."

J. Avis Totnes

"Our students really engaged with the competition and enjoyed the 100 word limit challenge."

M. Pearce Barrow-In-Furness

"This idea really engaged our boys. Thank you."

J. North London

"A fantastic little competition - perfect alongside our gothic fiction unit."

H. Jones Northampton

"The pupils absolutely loved working on this and were really enthusiastic in their discussions."

A. Barry Liverpool

"Children loved the sentence starters and short format! Great resources too!"

L. Kembery Porthcawl

"Our students really responded well to the post card ideas and they engendered a deal of imaginative discussion prior to deciding which one to choose. "

A. Casey Oldham

"Fantastic competition to encourage young people to write! A lot of excitement created!"

S. Gill Lichfield

"Fantastic! The students absolutely loved taking part and being creative."

K. Spence Newcastle Upon Tyne

"Excellent resources and a range of sentence starters for different genres."

K. Salis Swansea

"The sentence starters provided allowed for some very imaginative discussion. The 100 word limit allowed for the element of challenge too!"

N. Mevo Braintree

"Very enjoyable. Students like the sentence prompts. Enthusiastic take up/ range of entries. Also, good for us to hone writing skills. "

S. Avis Brierley Hill

"Excellent idea!"

C. Harradine Dunstable

"Loved the theme, loved the resources!"

V. Sylvester Waltham Cross

"A fantastic supplement to our KS3 curriculum, inspiring young writers to write and talk about their work."

V. Tong Prestatyn

"The students in KS3 really loved this competition - we will definitely take part again. Thank you for the great resources and opportunity for students to take part."

J. Rogers Rickmansworth

"The boys loved the video and discussing different story starters."

F. Monti London

"Brilliant, creative and engaging opportunity for A-Level students to explore language outside of the syllabus."

L. Oakes Halesowen

"Excellent and engaging programme!"

N. McCloskey Ballycastle

"An excellent resource - we all enjoyed it!"

J. Skinner Caerphilly

"Really loved the sentence starters - they worked brilliantly!"

K. Simpson Kingston Upon Thames

"Yet another enjoyable opportunity to engage pupils of all abilities. Thank you!"

H. Greenwood Bootle

"Thanks again - this really inspires our young writers!"

M. Harrington Leicester

"Great task, students love the variety of options of possible sentence starters."

S. Price Burnham-On-Crouch

"Students enjoyed the 'starter sentences'; they liked the choice and they were a helpful prompt."

K. Makepeace Bideford

"A fun, creative activity that my students really enjoyed!"

R. Anderson Manchester

"A fabulous challenge for the pupils. They loved working on this!"

K. Kempsey Southampton

"Fab writing competition with good examples and PowerPoint slide activities. Some students included the sentence starters in their 100 words though! Thank you."

Z. Ligertwood Dagenham

"An excellent initiative to get students writing creative pieces!"

A. Muhit Luton

"A great competition that really teaches students the skills of creative writing and brevity. Being economical with language is key."

M. Chutter Beaminster

"Thank you for running this competition! The students have really enjoyed it!"

S. Lynn Nicolson Bristol

"Students from years 7 to 9 have really enjoyed taking part in this competition. Many thanks."

C. Walmsley Droitwich

"The cards that came with the forms were a good starting point for writing the stories. The students enjoyed the activity."

M. Fulcher Horsham

"We loved the Stranger stories materials - thank you!"

S. Lester London

"The pupils enjoyed this challenge. "I've never had to think so hard", said one pupil."

C. Moss Northampton

"Fab writing competition with good examples and PowerPoint slide activities. Some students included the sentence starters in their 100 words though! Thank you."

Z. Ligertwood Dagenham

"An excellent, initiative to get students writing creative pieces!"

A. Muhit Luton

"A great one to enter! Straight forward and useful teacher materials. Thank you."

K. Oflaherty Preston

"Excellent idea - Makes them consider the merit of every word!"

J. Talbot Inverness

"My creative writing club and I loved this competition."

A. Soan Melksham

"Fun and engaging activities. Great for reluctant writers."

R. Glew Billingham

"The mini sagas are a great way for students to feel a sense of accomplishment."

F. Magee Oldmixon

"Our foundation English group really enjoyed writing these stories."

L. Fielding Nottingham

"I love those sentence starter resources! Another great lesson idea."

L. Oldham Looe

"Many thanks! Our creative writing club really enjoyed this."

B. McCall Blandford Forum

"My intervention group feel a real sense of achievement."

C. Owen Winchester

"An excellent activity set. My year 9 group loved it!"

R. Evans Bristol

"Again, a really awesome topic that we completed with H.G. Welles, "War of the Worlds" for the student up-coming GCSE English exams. A really excellent tool to teach creative writing."

L. Chase q

"Loved this task as a number of the students had watched 'Stranger Things', so it was very current and relevant."

J. Doody Scarborough

"Students have really engaged with the competition and have been inspired."

G. Ellitti Wolverhampton

"Some more challenging examples would be really useful for more able/ older students."

S. Anderson Woking

"Lovely resources I used the resources as a way of prepping my year 7, 8 and 10 for their creative writing end of term assessment. Original and inspiring story starters!"

A. Cubbon Liverpool

"A really inspiring competition that got all of our KS3 students excited about writing. "

M. Lancaster-Knaggs Wakefield

"A fantastic challenge which really engaged my students right from the start - great resources too! Thank you!"

N. Leonard Reading

"Great resources - lesson plan. Thank you!"

C. Simons Rochester

"Really enjoyed this competition. Students loved thinking outside the box."

H. Jenkins Bridgend

"A few members of our newly-formed Creative Writing Group took up this challenge - they really enjoyed it, thought begged for a bigger word count!"

A. Oulton Bishop Auckland

"Great competition. The students especially loved the starter sentences. Thanks."

C. Hobbs Horncastle

"Excellent and engaging competition. Excellent resources provided!"

N. Fowler Livingston

"A wonderful idea for a competition - extremely engaging materials."

K. Lomas Livingston

"An excellent competition that really inspires and sparks imagination. It's a fabulous opportunity for pupils to be published."

H. Jenkins Bude

"Thanks for the lesson plan, it worked really well."

R. Berridge Canterbury

"We loved the resources. Thank you. "

E. Frank Woodstock

"This has been a great way to engage our students with creative writing!"

C. Turner St. Helens

"To provide feedback/ results to pupils more quickly. "

K. Scott Inverness

"Thank you for your feedback. Every entry we receive is read and edited by our in house editors. Unfortunately, when volumes are high it does take a little while to get back to the pupils. We endeavor to respond as quickly as possible and apologize that it sometimes takes longer than expected."

"This was an interesting competition."

M. Elsouri Barking

"Sentence starters were really useful in generating discussion and ideas."

S. Peacock Market Rasen

"A fantastic competition that the students loved. The sentence starters really helped develop ideas. "

N. Cull London

"Thanks for the encouragement from the 'Wonderland' comp - the students were so pleased to have been successful."

P. Renyard Helston

"It's a great exercise in plotting and honing prose. They love the challenge."

C. Firth Whitby

"Kids really enjoyed the task and were really inspired by it!"

E. Price Luton

"Excellent resources and a great hook for Stranger Things fans!"

S. Hardcastle Southsea

"It's been a fun activity to do at the end of term. We like your 'Opening hooks!' "

A. Simpson Sheffield

"The form was really useful to help guide students. The lesson plan was very helpful."

M. Harrington Leicester

"A fun, engaging and creative few lessons. All abilities can take part and use their imagination. "

L. Fox Newtownabbey

"An excellent competition! Engaging, intriguing and manageable for all. A brilliant idea!"

G. Morgan Newry

"A brilliant competition which enables all to enter. "

D. Heley Harpenden

"Engaging and on a relevant theme for today's youth. "

J. Day Stoke On Trent

"Thank you for providing such an engaging and well resourced competition. It has been a fantastic project that our pupils have loved working on! Amazing."

A. Hamilton Altrincham

"A great idea to encourage and motivate our budding writers!"

S. Patel Wigston

"The pupils LOVED this! Sentence starters and story ideas were really engaging. "

L. Hennessy Walsall

"We loved this theme! The students were so excited and inspired by it. "

N. Read Solihull

"Absolutely love these competitions as students are inspired by the ideas, professional promo material and starters. Thank you! Very often those who don't think to enter competitions. "

L. Wilson Stoke-Sub-Hamdon

"Students were very engaged in this competition and enjoyed it!"

A. Duncan Norwich

"Students have really enjoyed the range of prompts and the challenge of creating a saga within the word limit. It has also been useful as a GCSE creative writing task."

C. Garner Grantham

"Inspiring for students."

A. Southern Ellesmere Port

"A great way to get students to think about their economy of words. Really good, fun activity."

V. Abraham Wrexham

"Really great resources, power point and effective starters inspired and engaged year 7-10 after winter exams."

J. Heathcote Manchester

"Amazing resources - inspired longer stories too! Thank you!"

Mrs Nugent Prescot

"An engaging package, the variety of resources were quick to engage our students."

A. Hopkins Salford

"The pupils loved the challenge and sharing their creations. "

A. Hobbs Exeter

"Our students enjoyed the writing process very much. "

S. Brakner Uttoxeter

"Brilliant competition! More please!"

E. Dulson Bala

"An excellent opportunity for our GCSE students to coach Year 7 students in creative writing society."

C. Hogan Newcastle Upon Tyne

"Students loved it!"

C. Demetrion Doncaster

"What a fabulous way of inspiring future authors. This competition awoke the imagination of our students and encouraged them to put their ideas to paper."

S. Afimi London

"A fantastic competition! So relevant - the pupils all responded well to the theme and were excited to take part - thank you!"

N. Llyod-Jones Pwllheli

"As a department we found this to be an excellent starter for creative writing and it was launched as a follow up to an author visit (dystopian fiction writer)"

H. Doogan Craigavon

"Really well conceived idea for a competition. "

G. McGhee Paisley

"A great way of encouraging pupils to write focused and thought-provoking stories. "

B. Hawkins Great Yarmouth

"Pupils really engaged with this task. The story openers were a huge help!"

G. Portedus Grangemouth

"Students really enjoyed the freedom afforded them by the stimulus."

R. Jowes Stockport

"Great competition - the pupils loved it. "

S. Nichols Hyde

"Lovely lesson ideas, kids really enjoyed it!"

C. Chapman Portsmouth

"Great resources and concept. Kids of all year groups enjoyed it thoroughly."

K. Robinson Manchester

"We have just started a writing club. Your competition has helped us get to a flying start and given our students a chance to express their ideas outside of the curriculum."

G. Harrison Stoke On Trent

"Brilliant competition. Students really enthused by prompts and some very intriguing entries. Many thanks. "

S. Avis Brierley Hill

"The sentence structures were very helpful for my EAL learners."

Mrs Solly Market Harborough

"An excellent which stretched all ability levels and links well to other areas of the English Curriculum. Thank you!"

C. Taylor St Ives

"Loved the story starters and the challenge of the 100 word limit. The video really helped to get kids excited. Great competition!"

A. Douglas Edinburgh

"Kids loved it. Thank you!"

H. Hunter-French Sheffield

"Students loved the post card sentences and I saw some real enjoyment and creativity - a great topic!"

R. Parsons Stowmarket

"Great concept. The boys really enjoyed it."

R. Haves Gravesend

"We used these resources ti prompt discussion of structure, and how a short story uses sentence structure for maximum effect."

H. Booth Walsall

"A wonderful project, really helped to inspire my literacy intervention students to enjoy writing. "

T. Deller Boston

"The students enjoyed this challenging task - wanted to submit more than one saga!"

P. Newton Southall

"Students loved this task!"

A. WIlliams Olney

"Great comp!"

k. Johnston Ayr

"Students love stranger things. Great resource and interesting competition."

J. Claxton Ilford

"Pupils loved this. They thought the starter sentences were really helpful. PowerPoint's useful for teachers."

K. Salis Swansea

"The students enjoyed linking the task with 'Stranger Things' and this inspired them. Great idea, thanks."

P. Hogarth Preston

"Great idea to have different story starters - inspirational competition!"

H. Thorton London

"An intriguing short story competition. It really caught the imagination of many of our students. "

C. Osbourne Waterlooville

"We really enjoyed using the inspirational ideas as starting points. "

C. Patel Tamworth

"The students found this an engaging challenge!"

K. Graham Benfleet

"The students love the combination of creativity and concision. Thank you."

T. Brooker Bourne

"An enjoyable competition teaching valuable skills in editing and shaping narrative. "

T. Vershaw Liverpool

"Love the lesson, the prompts and the introduction video. Great competition, very inspiring! "

D. McAreavy Ashton-Under-Lyne

"Pupils of Madani thoroughly enjoyed this writing experience. Resources were very handy."

S. Rouf London

"Really like the story starters as it's engaging and gives students a variety o ways to unite and imagine."

R. Hill Huddersfield

"Brilliant stimulus for writing sags. All students wrote with gusto!"

J. Brand Dartford

"Excellent resources and a fun competition!"

J. Bennett Newmarket

"Students really enjoyed being creative. Useful lesson plan and resources that will be used again."

S. Booth-Coates Crymych

"Brilliant marketing. Great title, very relevant. Inspired kids to take part. Font recognizable."

A. Nixon Annan

"A brilliant way of sparking creativity in young people. Resources are excellent. "

T. Hanley Clitheroe

"We used this activity during our lunchtime "Library Cafe". Year 7 and 8 students thought it was a fun and interesting idea."

A. Green Billingham

"The students loved this and the lesson/ resources were excellent. Many thanks. "

J. Price London

"Inspiring theme. Students enjoyed selecting from the post cards. "

S. Comley Ipswich

"Really lovely resources provided. The students enjoyed writing their sagas!"

M. Adkins Chelmsford

"Really lovely resources provided. The students enjoyed writing their sags!"

M. Adkins Chelmsford

"Fantastic motivator for creative writing!"

L. Roberts Chepstow

"Great competition - pupils really enjoyed it!"

Mrs Redgate Troon

"Loved the postcard sized story starters."

K. Parker Norwich

"Fabulous opportunity for students to develop their creative skills. "

M. Bartlett Brockenhurst

"My small group of pupils who regularly attend writing club LOVED the theme!"

R. Taylor Carrickfergus

"The resources to help students create their responses were excellent!"

K. Wilshire March

"This was excellent preparation for the year 2 narrative exam. Thank you!"

S. Holden Thornton Cleveleys

"An incredibly inspiring and motivational process for our students. Thank you."

A. Wilkings Buckingham

"Our students were excited to be given an opportunity to participate and will aim to have more entries next year."

S. Joandel Birmingham

"Lovely resources. Engaging video. "

A. Snow Blyth

Rules

Only one entry per student
Mini sagas can be written or typed
100-word limit (not including the title)
Ensure that all students include their name, surname and age on the entry form
You can use the 8 brand new story starters for this term, but if you prefer to use the Autumn Term ones, simply download them below!

Don't forget to put your school name and postcode on the freepost sticker or the reverse of the envelope so we know who has sent the entries

Prizes

Winners will be chosen from entries received in the Spring Term 2018 by our editorial team and independent judge.

For Schools

1st Prize - £1,000

+ a trophy

2nd Prize - £500

+ a trophy

3rd Prize - £250

+ a trophy

For Students

1st Prize - £250

2nd Prize - £100

3rd Prize - £50

one highly commended writer will win a selection of books!

Plus a bookmark for every entrant!

How To Enter

If you are in need of more entry forms, please go to Downloads / Resources Request
Send your entries, along with your school entry form, to:

FREEPOST RSLY-AUJA-RAHY
Young Writers SS
Remus House
Peterborough
PE2 9BF
Alternatively, you can upload students' work here

Extended Deadline - Closing Date: Friday 20th of April 2018

Downloads

To see the competition pack, including Full Competition Information, Poster, Lesson Plan, resources, and more… please fill in the short form below. All download links will appear once the form is sent and the links will also be emailed to you.

Request Additional Resources

I would like further resources posting to me… Please insert 0 if you don't require a particular resource.

Writing Tips

Tip #1

Creative writing is about setting a scene in the reader’s mind, but to help students get writing why not set a scene (or scenes) in your class to bring their imaginations to life!

E.g.

“You have one chance, use it wisely”– where do students imagine they’d be given this information? Somewhere busy and loud, or somewhere quiet and private? Let them vote and then create that effect. You could use video or audio of a bustling city scene, or the tranquillity of a park to help set the scene so students can think about who would give them their last chance and why, as well as how they’d reached this situation.

A scream echoes outside – make the classroom dark and play the sound of someone screaming – who was screaming and why? Will they discover the cause of it?

The mist clears and my name’s on the moss-covered gravestone – open the window for a breeze, let paper flutter on the windowsill and show students this image - can they imagine the peace in the cemetery, the stillness? Why would their name appear? Why are they in the cemetery in the first place? Will they solve the mystery of their name appearing?

Tip #2

Encourage your students to think outside the box with their Stranger Sagas. Can they create a twist in the tale, give us an unexpected ending that both thrills and surprises?

E.g.

Someone isn’t who we thought they were
A character’s motives have deceived us as they were after something else
The world we think is real is in fact fake
Fate intervenes… for better or for worse
A character achieves something only to have it snatched away at the end

Tip #3

Bookmark the video above – this 90-second video introduces the activity to your students and will leave them eager to get writing!

Make sure you have the lesson plan and the 8 story starter sentences (these are the postcards in your Stranger Sagas pack). If you don’t have these, don’t worry as you can download them for free from the download section on this page.

Now, you’re ready to set the scene in your class… dimmed lights, watch the video, use torches to locate and read the story starter sentences – this create a fantastic atmosphere for writing a mini saga.

Then get students writing – this fun lesson can be completed in an hour, or simply do the introductory work in class and set the mini saga writing as homework.