LP Student Shortlisted for 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award!

We are delighted to congratulate Rowan Taylor (Lower Sixth) on her phenomenal achievement in the BBC Young Writers’ Award. Rowan’s short story, ‘Allotment’, was announced as one of the five entries shortlisted for the 2019 competition last night on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks.

Rowan’s work tells the story of a daughter’s changing relationship with her father after her parent’s marriage break-up, her evocative writing revealing the shift from desolation through sadness to new love as the seasons pass and new life, and hope, awakens on the father’s allotment.

“I didn’t expect to get this far; it was very weird to find out I was shortlisted, I’m really excited though!” enthused Rowan, “I am going to the BBC next week and I’m hoping to get to meet the woman who read my story out. I wasn’t sure what it would be like as it can be different in your head to when other people read it aloud but she captured it perfectly; that was brilliant!”

“I was inspired by my Dad and his allotment as writing advice always tells you to write about what you know.” explained Rowan. “I used to spend a lot of time there with him before GCSEs swamped me. It did make my Dad feel sad when he read it. He knows the guy in the story is vaguely based on him and he would never want our relationship to deteriorate like that. He was really helpful with the story as I had questions about vegetables and when you plant them so I could just ask my Dad and it was a nice thing to do with him.”

Rowan’s creative process is to write as much as possible without looking back and then to go back and edit repeatedly, especially important if you need to pare the story back to the 1,000 words necessary for the Young Writers’ Award submission. “I kept refining it because you want to make sure the reader is getting exactly what you are trying to give them.” said Rowan. “I like circular stories where either end of the story is similar but where a change has taken place, either for the characters or for the reader.”

The 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University, this year features an all-female shortlist of young writers aged 16 and 17 years from across the UK, whose five stories range from the comic, to the lyrical, to the tragic. Now in its fifth year, the Award was launched as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations for the BBC National Short Story Award, to encourage 14-18 year-old writers living in the United Kingdom. .

Rowan’s encouragement has come primarily from her parents and her school, Leighton Park, where she had the opportunity to join the Creative Writing Club after her mum shared some of her writing with the Club’s leader. Having gained both her AS and A Level in Creative Writing over the last two summers, Rowan was further encouraged by her English teacher, Tom Rawlings. “Tom suggested the competition to me and kept pestering me to enter; I wouldn’t have known about it without Tom, and he just kept nagging me! It is the first writing competition I’ve ever entered as well! I think you just have to keep practising and then you will get better. If you don’t go in for it there is no chance of getting something out and sometimes you can just be lucky!”

Tom, who is Head of English at Leighton Park School, reflected, ” This is an incredible achievement, to be recognised in such a major international award is certainly something that we can all celebrate. I urge you to listen to her poignant and beautiful story ‘Allotment’. It has a fantastic story arc and some touching little moments that build to create a perfectly crafted text that demands attention. Good luck to Rowan for the grand prize but we think you have already won.“

Katie Thistleton, BBC Radio 1 presenter and Chair of Judges, BBC YWA 2019 says:

“I am particularly excited about the shortlist this year because we had such a diverse range of stories submitted and the final five really reflect that – no two have a similar style or topic. For that reason, there’s something for everyone and I think it will also encourage people listening or reading to want to write themselves, and perhaps enter next year!”

Katie Thistleton is joined on this year’s judging panel by former teacher and Betty Trask Award winner, Anthony Cartwright; Waterstones Prize and YA Bookseller Prize-winning writer, Patrice Lawrence; winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year children’s author, Kiran Millwood Hargrave; and writer, rapper and world-record breaking human beatboxer, Testament.

The shortlisted writers will have their stories read by an actor and broadcast by BBC Radio 1, and available to listen to on BBC Sounds as part of the Short Works short story podcast or read at www.bbc.co.uk/ywa . The stories will also be published in an anthology and the writers will attend a creative writing workshop with author and judge Patrice Lawrence, in addition to a session in a recording studio and a tour of Broadcasting House with BBC producers. All five teenagers will attend the exclusive BBC Short Story Awards ceremony with their families on Tuesday 1 October 2019, when the winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. There, they will have the chance to meet high-profile authors, publishers, agents and broadcasters at the award ceremony. The winner will also receive a personalised mentoring session with an author to enhance their writing skills.