Three local schools - Castle, Stepaside and St Oswalds recently entered a total of 42 pupils in this year’s Rotary Young Writer Competition.

There were two categories Junior (age 7 to 11) and Intermediate (age 12 +) and the chosen topic for this year was ‘Communication’.

The children’s interpretations were wide and varied and of a high standard which made the three judges task very difficult taking them four hours to reach a decision.

All students who entered received a Rotary Certificate in appreciation of their hard work and originality, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each category in each school were presented with book tokens.

The winning essays of the Junior and Intermediate categories went forward to the Regional Young Writer’s final.