We’re delighted to announce the winning entry for the 2022, Year of Stories, Green Pencil creative writing competition is Lukas Bell of Boroughmuir High School with his poem, Foggy Bummer.
We invite you to listen to a special recording of Lukas’ poem read by poet, Roshni Gallagher –
You can hear all four of our finalists read their highly commended entries in yesterday’s blog post.
A big thank you to all the children and young people who entered the Green Pencil creative writing competition. We enjoyed reading all your writing.
For this year’s theme – Year of Scotland’s stories – P4-P7 aged children and young people in S1-3 were challenged to write a poem, piece of prose or story on the theme.
Once again, we were unable to hold an awards ceremony in Central Library, so here instead, you can listen to the finalists read their highly commended entries in these special Green Pencil videos.
Congratulations to all our talented finalists!
Hannah, St George’s: Can we stop it now?
Zara Shaw, Ratho Primary: The Difference We Can Make for Climate Change
Amber Rose Redpath, The Royal High: Mother Nature
Lukas Bell, Boroughmuir High: Foggy Bummer
Come back tomorrow when the winner will be revealed…
We’re thrilled to announce the winning entry for the 2021 Green Pencil creative writing competition on the theme of Climate Change is ‘We need to stop this now!’ by Alfie Ross, from St. Mary’s Primary School.
And we’re delighted to invite you to listen to a specially recorded reading of Alfie’s poem by poet, Jeda Pearl Lewis.
Here is, ‘We need to stop this now!’
A big thank you to all the children and young people who entered the Green Pencil creative writing competition. We enjoyed reading all your writing.
This year’s theme tackled a very hot topic – climate change. P4-P7 aged children and young people in S1-3 were challenged to write a poem, piece of prose or story on the theme.
Once again, we were unable to hold an awards ceremony in Central Library, so here instead, you can listen to the finalists read their highly commended entries in these special Green Pencil videos.
Congratulations to all our talented finalists!
Come back tomorrow when the winner will be revealed…
We’re delighted to announce the winning entry for this year’s Green Pencil creative writing competition, is Summertime in lockdown by Rosanna Jerdin from Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce.
Now sit back, listen and enjoy a specially recorded reading of Rosanna’s winning poem by poet, Michael Pederson.
And in case you missed it, here’s a link to yesterday’s Green Pencil blog post where all four of our finalists’ brilliant nature writing are available to listen online.
A huge thank you to everyone who submitted their entry to this year’s Green Pencil creative writing competition.
We couldn’t avoid the topic of year, so this 2020’s Green Pencil writing theme was Scotland’s nature in lockdown.
The competition was open to all P4-P7 aged children in Edinburgh and, once again, to young people in S1-3. Entries could be poetry, prose or story.
In normal times, we would host an awards ceremony for the finalists at Central Library but of course, current restrictions meant that couldn’t go ahead. Instead, here you can listen to our finalists read their highly commended entries against specially made Green Pencil nature videos.
First though, a message from last year’s Green Pencil winner, Charlotte Schegel to this year’s finalists:
Now we invite you to enjoy the nature writing from our super talented finalists:
Come back tomorrow when the winning entry will be revealed!
There were smiles all round on 28th November at Central Reference Library when finalists in the Green Pencil Award collected their prizes watched by their families and teachers, at a ceremony hosted by Councillor Donald Wilson, Convener of Culture and Communities.
The environmentally-themed creative writing competition, funded by Edinburgh Libraries, has been running for 11 years and is open to P4-S3 pupils attending City of Edinburgh Council and independent schools across Edinburgh, as well as home-schooled children. This year’s theme was ’Going, Going, Gone-Scottish Wildlife in Danger?’ The competition was launched in August at Blackhall Library by children’s author Vivian French, who led a writing workshop for P6 pupils from Davidson’s Mains Primary.
There was a record number of over 1200 entries, from which 20 finalists and an overall winner were selected by a judging panel whose members came from the Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh International Book Festival, National Trust for Scotland, Edinburgh Libraries and Schools and Lifelong Learning.
Generous prizes were donated by sponsors, including RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, Jupiter Artland, RSPB, Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Forth Boat Tours, the Woodland Trust, Alien Rock, Scottish Seabird Centre, Camera Obscura, NTS and Scottish Natural Heritage.
This year’s overall winner was Charlotte Schlegel, from Preston St Primary, for her story ’The Different Perceptives.’ Charlotte was presented with the Green Pencil trophy and a medal to keep by Vivian French and last year’s winner, Liam Guyatt.
This year’s overall winner was Charlotte Schlegel, from Preston St Primary School.
The judges commented, ‘What really struck us was the way that Charlotte’s story addressed the topic so well, giving a real sense of her concern for our wildlife. She cleverly managed to tell her story from two different points of view, both human and animal, in her own, very personal way. We were impressed with the originality of the story in depicting both the natural environment of Scotland and Charlotte’s concern for it.’
The 20 winning entries appear in a brochure which goes to all public libraries, sponsors and schools that submitted entries to the competition.
This year’s winners
There were smiles all round when finalists in the Green Pencil Award collected their prizes with their families and teachers, at a ceremony hosted by Councillor Alison Dickie, Vice-Convener for Education, Children and Families on 22nd November at Central Reference Library.
The environmentally-themed creative writing competition, funded by Edinburgh Libraries, has been running for 11 years. This year’s competition was launched at the Queen’s Park Education Centre in August by children’s author Vivian French, who led a writing workshop for P6 pupils from Preston Street Primary.
To tie in with 2018 being the Year of Young People, the award was opened for the first time to S1-3 pupils, as well as P4-7 pupils from City of Edinburgh Council and independent schools across Edinburgh. Because of this, the theme was ’Young People and the Scottish Environment’. There was a record number of 1245 entries, from which 20 finalists and an overall winner were selected by a judging panel whose members came from the Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh Libraries and Schools and Lifelong Learning.
Generous prizes were donated by sponsors, including RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, Jupiter Artland, RSPB, Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Bedlam Paintballing, Dynamic Earth,Camera Obscura, NTS and Historic Environment Scotland.
This year’s overall winner Liam Guyatt, from St Margaret’s RC Primary is presented with the Green Pencil trophy along with a medal to keep by Councillor Alison Dickie.
The judges comments on Liam’s winning story ’Ferry Glen’, “What really struck the judges was the way that Liam’s story addressed the topic so well, giving a real sense of a young person enjoying the Scottish environment. Liam cleverly managed to create a wonderful picture of this beautiful place, with all its sights and sounds, in his own, very personal way. We were impressed with the humour and originality of the story which in no way took away from the depiction of the natural environment and Liam’s appreciation of it.’
All 20 finalists attended the event.
The 20 winning entries appear in a brochure which goes to all public libraries, sponsors and schools that submitted entries to the competition.
The tenth annual award ceremony for the City of Edinburgh Council creative writing competition, open to all P4 – P7 pupils in Edinburgh, took place in the Central Reference Library on the 30th November. The event was hosted by Councillor Alison Dickie, Vice-Convener of Education, Children and Families and was attended by the 20 finalists along with their families and teachers.
Green Pencil Award Finalists
The Green Pencil Award aims to promote literacy, in particular reading and creative writing. It also helps raise awareness and encourages learning about important environmental topics. This year’s theme was ’Edinburgh’s Natural Heritage’ and over 800 entries were received from P4-7 pupils across the city on a range of topics from Edinburgh Castle to Portobello Beach.
Prizes were donated by our sponsors, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scottish Book Trust, Dynamic Earth, National Trust for Scotland, Royal Scottish Zoological Society and Camera Obscura.
This year’s overall winner was Chrissie Clark from Edinburgh Academy for her poem ‘The Three Bridges’.
Green Pencil Award winner Chrissie Clark receives this year’s award from Councillor Alison Dickie
The judges commented, “What really struck us was the topical subject of Chrissie’s poem. Some of us may have walked across the Queensferry Crossing in its inaugural weekend, and been amazed by the wonderful feat of engineering that it represents, and the beautiful sight of the three bridges. Chrissie cleverly managed to weave in her own, very personal impression of the bridges, and rounded off a nicely structured piece of work with a satisfying and humorous conclusion”.
All the winning entries are published in a brochure which will sent to all schools who took part.
Last week the Central Library hosted this year’s Green Pencil Award Ceremony when 20 finalists, their friends and families and other special guests came to the awards ceremony held in the Reference Library on Thursday 24th of November. Councillor Richard Lewis attended to hand out the prizes.
The 2016 finalists from left to right
Bethany Woodburn – Cargilfield School, Megan Rutherford – Bruntsfield Primary, Afra Schwannauer – Preston Street Primary, Jemma Cattanach – Bruntsfield Primary, Catherine Byrne – Cargilfield School, Alice McGuire – Hermitage Park Primary, Greta Grant – Leith Primary, Councillor Richard Lewis, Lily Chatwood – Leith Primary, Cara Campbell – Pentland Primary, Catriona Simpson – Preston Street Primary, Finlay Black – Cargilfield School, Blair Henderson – Clifton Hall School, Rachael Smyth – Davdison’s Mains Primary, Natalie Ruzgar – St Margaret’s Primary, Amy Brand – Oxgangs Primary, Samuel Joester – Wardie Primary, Rose Kinsler – Sciennes Primary, Seren McDougall – Bruntsfield Primary
This year the theme was ‘Scotland’s Glorious Gardens’, Edinburgh school pupils in the P4 to P7 age range were inspired by the many gardens, parks and green spaces that we are lucky enough to have, and to enjoy using, here in the City.
Councillor Richard Lewis congratulates the winner, Rachael Smyth from Davidson’s Mains Primary
The Award aims to promote literacy, in particular reading and creative writing and firing the imagination. It also helps raise awareness and encourages learning about nature and other important environmental topics.
Rose Kinsler from Sciennes Primary reads her entry to the crowd
This is the ninth year the competition has run. This year’s competition was launched by the author Vivian French on September 1st at Central Children’s Library and Princes Street Gardens with pupils from Preston Street Primary School.
The Green Pencil Award
The night was a great success and we very much look forward to next year’s competition.
Young entrants in the Green Pencil Award will explore the competition’s theme, Scotland’s Glorious Gardens.
Last week children’s author Vivien French joined pupils form Preston Street Primary School for a special writing workshop in Princes Street Gardens to launch the competition.
Amelie Colgrave, age 10, and Vivien French, author, admire the view in Princes Street Gardens
Children, who must be p4 to p7, can write a poem or story, which could focus on anything from a memorable visit to a Scottish garden like the Royal Botanic Gardens or a creative depiction of what the ideal Scottish garden would look and smell like.
Culture Convener, Councillor Richard Lewis, said: “This is a popular and engaging competition for budding writers across the city, and always produces many creative and compelling entries from young people.
This year’s theme should also inspire more visits to our fantastic range of parks and green spaces so I look forward to reading the creative writing to result from it.”
Councillor Richard Lewis and children’s author Vivien French with pupils from Preston Street Primary School.
Find out how to enter the Green Pencil Award and inspiration for your poems from this library booklist
The closing date is Friday, 14 October, with an awards ceremony to be held at the Central Library in late November.
Photo: Kirsty McLachalan
Congratulations to Louis Reilly from Hermitage Park Primary, this year’s overall winner of our Green Pencil creative writing competition on the theme ‘Food for Thought – Scotland’s food and drink’
Twenty finalists from schools across Edinburgh attended the award ceremony at Central Library hosted by Councillor Lesley Hinds, Convenor of Transport and Environment and Louis was presented with the Green Pencil trophy, a winner’s medal and a bag full of prizes by author Vivian French and last year’s winner Iona McLaren.
The judges said of his poem “What impressed us was the humour in Louis’ poem and his acute observation of some adult failings when we don’t always do the things we expect our children to do! He cleverly managed to weave in some really traditional Scottish foods and rounded off a nicely structured piece of work with a satisfying and ironic conclusion”
This was Louis’ winning poem from over 1,500 entries:
What They Say….
My mum says, ‘Eat your mash it’s tasty’.
I say, ‘It’s too lumpy’.
My mum says, ‘It gives you muscles’.
‘EAT YOUR MASH!’
My mum says.
My dad says, ‘Eat your black pudding, it’s amazing’.
I say, ‘It’s made of blood’.
My dad says, ‘It will make you taller’.
‘EAT YOUR BLACK PUDDING,’
My dad says.
My uncle says, ‘Eat your Dundee cake, it’s wonderful’.
I say, ‘It’s too nutty’.
‘EAT YOUR DUNDEE CAKE,’
My uncle says.
My dinner lady says, ‘Eat your oatcakes, they’re lovely’.
I say, ‘They’re so hard I might break my teeth.’
My dinner lady says they will give you brains.
‘EAT YOUR OATCAKES!’
Says my dinner lady.
I saw my mum guzzling iron bru
I saw my dad munching tablet
I saw my uncle chomping tea cakes
I say, ‘It’s not fair!’
They say, ‘Haud yer wheesht,
EAT YOUR TEA!’
Photo: Kirsty McLachalan
Congratulations to all our other winners.
You can read the other winning entries in our commemorative brochure and see more photographs from the award ceremony on flickr.
For the final prize for the 2014 Green Pencil Award – Scotland’s Seas, 18 of our 20 winners joined us on a trip to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick.
We spent 5 hours at the centre exploring the indoor fish tanks, getting to hold a starfish, watching gannets on the Bass Rock on the live cams (we were even able to see a peregrine) following an adventure gannet trail, watching 3D films and banishing ‘rubbish’ from an interactive environmental floor display.
Taking full advantage of the glorious weather we ventured out onto the beach after lunch, where the children were split up into teams and had to salvage treasures including driftwood, sea glass and something smelly!
Once everything had been collected they then had to make a sand picture out of what they’d found.
It was a fascinating and fun filled end to last year’s Green Pencil Award and we’d like to congratulate all our winners one final time. You can see more photos from the day on Flickr.
The theme for this year will be announced in August.
Extended highlights from this year’s Green Pencil Award ceremony including the winning poem by Jack Elliott of Leith Primary School.
Congratulations to Leith Primary School’s Jack Elliott, winner of this year’s Green Pencil Award for creative writing on an environmental theme.
Twenty finalists attended the awards ceremony at Central Library, where Jack was presented with the overall prize by Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin.
And here’s the poem that beat off more than 800 other entries from schools across Edinburgh to claim the coveted trophy.
Weather Banter
My cousin said
“It’s raining cats and dogs”
(Why doesn’t it rain ferrets?)
Dad mutters,
“It’s the fine rain that gets you wet”
(Yeah yeah, how does that work?)
Mum moaned
“It might be an Indian Summer this year”
(What about our summer?)
The old lady croaked
“It’s bucketing down son”
(Um, ok?!)
My Granny laughed
“It’s awfy muggy”
(You have lots of mugs already Gran!)
The Green Pencil Award is run by Edinburgh City Libraries and Eco-Schools in Edinburgh with sponsorship from Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Poetry Library, Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Seabird Centre, SEPA, Camera Obscura and The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland who provided prizes for all the winners.
See the full list of finalists and find out more about the Green Pencil Award.
Our Green Pencil Award, for creative writing with an environmental slant, is now in its fifth year. This year’s competition, on the theme of “Birds and beasties”, attracted over 1000 entries from Edinburgh’s keenest and greenest young wordsmiths.
The overall winner was Nathan Page, a Primary 4 pupil from St Margaret’s RC Primary, who won the 2012 Green Pencil Award with his fantastic piece of writing The story of a snail. Nathan impressed the panel of literary judges with his imaginative, humorous and visual piece of writing. His trophy was presented by the Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin, accompanied by the 2011 winner James Macnab from Cargilfield School.
Here’s a clearly delighted Nathan struggling to find the words to describe his feelings at winning the award, followed by an accomplished reading of his triumphant entry.
Congratulations to Nathan and the other highly commended entries: Iona MacLaren, Blackhall Primary, Spring is here; Konrad Pawlikowski, Tollcross Primary, School garden of life; Lauren Constable, George Watson’s College, The kingfisher’s diary and Nathan Ezra-Jackson, James Gillespie’s Primary, The meeting.
The Green Pencil Award is run by Edinburgh City Libraries and Eco-Schools in Edinburgh with sponsorship from Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Poetry Library, Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Seabird Centre and The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland who provided prizes for all the winners. In addition, the overall winner received educational visits for his class to Edinburgh Zoo, Vane Farm and a creative poetry workshop with Scottish Poetry Library.
All winners will also attend a creative workshop with Ryan van Winkle, poet in residence, at Edinburgh Central Library early next year.
“The Green Pencil Award is surely one of the most important children’s writing competitions there is. Year after year it fires up children’s imaginations about topics that really affect us all. I’m very much looking forward to hear what the boys and girls will say about ‘Birds & Beasties’. I know it will be imaginative, thought-provoking – and, most of all, exciting!”
– Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin
This year’s Green Pencil Award for children in the P4 – P7 age range was launched yesterday at the Hermitage of Braid by pupils from Pentland Primary School and Reader in Residence Ryan Van Winkle.
The theme this year is ‘Birds & Beasties’, encouraging entrants to write about wildlife they encounter in spaces such as their garden or local park .
In addition to the trophy there are various activity prizes for the winner and their class mates donated by the Scottish Seabird Centre, RSPB, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Forestry Commission Scotland, Forest Rangers, Scottish Natural Heritage and The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
More details at http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/greenpencilaward
Congratulations to Owen Richards of St Mary’s RC Primary School who has won this year’s Green Pencil Award with his poem ‘ The city is wild’.
Owen impressed the judges with the power of his writing on this year’s theme, Nature on your Doorstep, and on Friday evening he was presented by Cllr Deidre Brock with the Green Pencil trophy and a range of sponsored prizes for himself and his class in the Central Library’s Reference Library.
With such a fantastic range of entries the judges had a very difficult task on their hands and they also awarded Highly Commended prizes for their very imaginative pieces to Anna Aitken of South Morningside Primary School for ‘Species in their millions‘ and to Louis Polson of Towerbank Primary School for ‘My squirrel‘. Here they are with Owen:
Congratulations to Owen, Anna and Louis and to all the talented young green writers – keep writing, keep reading and keep looking after the Nature on your Doorstep!
In the words of one of our bestselling local authors Vivian French – “Spoken words fly away like bubbles, but written words can change the world”
Organised by Edinburgh Libraries and Eco-Schools in Edinburgh, this creative writing competition is in its third year.
Many congratulations to Monica Robb, winner of this year’s Green Pencil Award for her poem ‘A greener world’. You can read Monica’s poem and some of the other entries on our Green Pencil Award page, and see more photos from the ceremony on flickr.
Monica has won herself a certificate, medal and prize pack, and her primary a set of waterproof jackets and trousers as well as training, workshops and a day in the woodlands, courtesy of Edinburgh’s Forest School Project for her class. This is in addition to the prestigious Green Pencil trophy, which will be displayed in Liberton Primary school.
The competition was open to p4-p7 school children and attracted nearly 900 entries. The theme of the writing competition this year was “Think Global, Act Local” with entrants promoting a Scottish or local environmental issue close to their heart. As this is the year of Homecoming Scotland and the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns birthday, pupils were encouraged to write in Scots, if they wished.
Celebrated author Alexander McCall Smith said: “This is a marvellous project from a library system of which Edinburgh can be truly proud. Given the chance, children naturally take to writing. This project combines that enthusiasm with concern over our fragile environment. I am sure the results will be very imaginative.”
The best 20 entries were awarded various prizes provided by a number of sponsors at Friday’s ceremony. Parents and family accompanied the award winners and the evening’s events also involved a number of poetry readings from local primary school pupils. Each winner recieved an Inspiring Edinburgh prize pack with book tokens, a copy of Our city, the One City Trust children’s book, and a selection of books from the Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Poetry Library and Edinburgh Unesco City of Literature.
Not long now till the closing date (16 Oct) for entries to the Green Pencil Award, Edinburgh’s environmentally-themed creative writing competition for Primary 4 – 7 pupils.
This year’s theme is Think Global, Act Local: Celebrate this year of Homecoming and the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birthday by writing about a Scottish or local environmental issue or subject that is close to your heart’.
You can find out more about how to enter and take a look at some of last year’s entries on our web site – good luck!
Tales of One City 