Students challenged to write about life for kids in Calais camp

Sunday 06 November 2016

Local children are being challenged to write a story or a poem about what it would be like living a long way from home in the refugee camp in Calais.

The schools' writing competition aims to raise awareness of the lives of the child refugees and is open to all students from ages seven to 18.

The competition is open to all students from ages 7 to 18 and their challenge is to write a short story or a poem entitled ‘A Long Way from Home.’

Law firm Benest Corbett Renouf have sponsored the competition and there's £100 up for grabs for the winner, £20 for the runner-up and £20 for whoever comes third in each of the age categories.

Jennifer Bridge, Chair of the Jersey Festival of Words, will decide who makes the shortlist and the competition will be judged by Sir Trevor McDonald, who himself arrived in the UK as an immigrant from Trinidad and rose up to become one of the most successful and admired personalities on television.

As the voice of ITN news and chairman of the Better English Campaign, he has demonstrated his passion for language and learning.

Mr MacDonald said: "I want every young person in the country to understand that language is a source of power. To be able to speak and write good, clear English gives you a head-start in the job market. It helps you to reach your goals in other ways, too. Good communication skills are crucial to our economic success. English is the world's major trading language. But we in Britain take it too much for granted."

The competition winners will be announced at the Jersey Arts Centre on 31 January to coincide with 'Love Theatre’s' production titled 'A long way from Home'.

Students have until 15 December to get their entries in. There's no minimum word count but stories and poems can't go over 1000 words.

Entries need to be emailed to this address with name, school, age, year group and contact details.