First Story’s regional writing event
On Wednesday 9th February, fifteen Year 10 and Year 11 students participated in First Story’s regional writing event (hosted by The Deep) along with four other Hull schools. The event, which was planned to coincide with the 2017 City of Culture celebrations, was an opportunity to reward the students’ hard work and dedication to the writing programme, which they have been working on with our ‘writer in residence’ since the start of the academic year.
The patron of the charity – HRH The Duchess of Cornwall – attended the event as part of her visit to the City of Culture to present the winning students with their certificates awards and discuss with them their First Story journeys and experiences of the writing programme thus far. HRH The Duchess of Cornwall also found time in her busy schedule to observe our young writers at work in The Deep’s sea labs, which provided excellent inspiration and material for our students’ creative pieces. The students were then given the opportunity to read out their work on the stage later in the day in front of all the other First Story writers across the city.
Prior to the event, it was announced that Megan Dennison (Year 11) was one of the city’s winners for her poem ‘Footsteps to Freedom’. To our great surprise, Megan was also announced as the overall winner and was asked to perform her poem to all the other first story students, HRH, and all the other invited guests, teachers and the First Story co-founder.
Throughout the day, students also had the chance to work with professional writers, as well as speaking to HRH and other esteemed members and patrons of the charity. All the students worked splendidly and really showcased their creative flair, talent and enthusiasm for writing as well as being excellent representatives for the Academy.
