For the last three years we at MADhurst have been very fortunate to work with the Southdowns National Park to sponsor a children’s creative competition. In the first year poetry was the creative form, last year it was drawing and painting. This year it has been a short story competition.
There were three age categories 5-9 years, 10-13years and 14-18years. I am delighted to announce we had a fabulous response yielding over 150 entries. After careful ready and much deliberation the winners were decided. So the winners of the 2021 MADhurst | Southdowns National Park Children’s Competition are:
Group A – 5- 9 years
Winner: Ottie Smith aged 7 – A South Downs Adventure: city girl to country girl. Runners up: Henry Hayes aged 7 – A dreamy day at Kingley Vale and Audrey Laver aged 9 – The Mystery of Cowdray Castle.
Group B – 10 – 13 years
Winner: Holly Lambert aged 11 – A Place to Remember. Runners up Joshua Hermon-Taylor aged 11 – Weavers Down (A Buzzards View) and Teddy Enrich aged 12 – The Seven Sisters.
Group C – 14 – 18 years
Winner: Jude Tedder aged 14 – A reflection at the end of the world. Runners up: Matilda Gray aged 16 – The Sailor’s coin and Darcy Morey De La Cruz aged 14 – Life in the Rain.
The prizes will be awarded to the winners on Saturday 28th August at the Midhurst Town Council Street Party which is part of the MADhurst 2021 Festival. The prizes include a goodie bag of items donated by The Southdowns National Park and book tokens purchased jointly by MADhurst and the Southdown National Park.
The three winning stories have been read by Hugh Bonneville, who very generously donated his time. See the video below:
A link to the written versions of the top three stories for each age group will also be published in full on this site soon – watch this space for more details.