Peterborough boy, 10, named a regional winner in writing competition

Rohan Appadu, who attends Copthill Forest School in Uffington, fought off tough competition from children all over the region with his story, ‘3017 Adventures in Space’.

The competition, organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning which has a centre in Peterborough, is now in its ninth year. This year’s judge was TV presenter and adventurer, Steve Backshall. Over 10,000 children from all over the UK entered in an effort to win a trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school.

The winner will be surprised in a school assembly by Steve who will announce the National Young Writer of the Year. Every child that entered will receive a certificate to celebrate their story, along with personalised feedback from Explore Learning.

The top ten runners up will also win an engraved pen from National Stationery Week sponsors, Sheaffer. Whilst all regional winners will receive prize bundles with goodies from National Stationery Week partners, Nu notebooks, Mustard, edding, Maped Helix, Write Size, Manuscript and Stabilo.

This year’s theme was ‘The Future’ and children were tasked with writing a 500 word story set in 3017! Robots were overwhelmingly the most popular characters and appeared in almost a third of the entries (31%), whilst teleport, rockets and jets were the common modes of transport in this fictional 3017 setting. Meanwhile, planet earth was the most popular location, followed by the Moon and Mars.