Every year, Queen Mary’s College’s library supports World Book Day in aid of Book Aid International by running a second-hand book sale but this year also saw the introduction of a competition, challenges students to write a short story of between 500 and 1000 words.
Nearly 50 students entered the contest which was judged by staff at the Festival Place branch of Waterstones.
Erin Bateman and Simone Nind emerged eventual winners and were each presented with a £20 Festival Place Voucher by QMC principal Ali Foss and Gavin Musselwhite, from Waterstones.
Gavin said: “We really enjoy being part of the community and getting involved in different projects. QMC’s World Book Day short story writing competition was a fantastic opportunity to encourage a new generation of writers and very talented they are too.
“I was fascinated by the breadth of genres and the skills QMC students showed in telling their stories, I really enjoyed reading them all and it was a hard task deciding on the winners.”
QMC plans to make the competition an annual event.
Ali said: “The students worked really hard on their stories and I’m already looking forward to reading more next year. A special thanks to Gavin and Waterstones for giving up their time to support the competition.”
