Winners of the Bookfeast Creative Writing Competition

After taking part in the Bookfeast Festival, hosted by the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and The Ashmolean, Oxfordshire primary school pupils were invited to write a story opening which had a strong sense of place.  After attending author events linked by the theme of 'Once Upon a Place', and participating in Creative Writing Workshops run by OUMC Education staff and Flashes of Splendour, many pupils were inspired to enter the competition.  Read the winning entries of the Bookfeast Creative Writing Competition here.

Years 5 and 6


 First Prize

Hanan Hussain
(Year 6, St Michael’s CE Aided Primary School)

 Day of the Dodo



The Dodo Walks Out © Oxford University Museum of Natural History

This story starts in Oxford, in the early Victorian era, before the Dodo became extinct. That is an important fact, remember it. It was early morning and gentlemen in sleek black top hats and ladies with fancy lace dresses were bustling around. This, along with poor people crying on the streets, was a common sight. Not so common was the dodo that waddled through St. Giles, seemingly heading for that huge monument located there. Once the Dodo had reached the monument it tapped it with its beak. And, as if by magic, a hole appeared and the Dodo walked through.



Second Prize
Lola Meyer

(Year 6, St Barnabus Primary School)

The Bird Box



Key from the Pitt Rivers Collection 1901.49.33 © Pitt Rivers Museum

At the end of a tiny back garden in central Oxford, there is a colossal oak tree. Hidden between the overgrown ivy and gnarled branches, there is a small, rusty keyhole. The key to it is kept in the handmade wooden bird box at the very topmost branches of the old oak tree. Nobody has ever discovered what is inside the tree. However, a nine- year-old girl has just moved into the house and she adores climbing trees. Inside the tree is a secret library filled with books such as Spying on Birds and Hypnotizing Hedgehogs.

Third Prize

Youna Seymour
(Year 6, West Oxford Community Primary School)

Darkness. Darkness so Deep.

Darkness. A darkness so deep it could terrify even the bravest. All those times when I was little, hiding under the bed sheets afraid of what lay in the dark…And then as I stood there, the darkness seemed to be breathing slow, shallow breaths, but when I listened I could hear nothing. We all get that feeling sometimes, there’s something there, something we can’t see. A sudden light illuminates a barren landscape; ruins of a mighty house, now cracked and covered in moss. Old pines spring up in random places. I take a few steps and turn around…

Fourth Prize

Beatrice Vincent-Ratti
(Year 6, St Aloysius Catholic Primary School)

Kaia Ran

Kaia ran. Through maze-like roads, through narrow streets. All she could hear was the padding of her feet and her jagged breathing. Eerie sodium light burned the darkness. It felt peculiar to run through these streets with nobody around. In the daylight, it was teeming with life. Now everything seemed sterile and spooky. The houses were quiet; the kind of silence after an attack. Kaia stopped. The repugnant smell of the alleyway’s decaying food hit her nose hard. Bags lay piled up, the contents spilling open. Dark walls seemed to be closing in on her. Snap! She turned…

 Years 3 and 4

 First Prize

 Lorien Bray

(Year 4, Little Milton Primary School)

The Fairyland Forest

Wondrous and amazed, I gazed absently into the never-ending canopy of this fairyland forest. As I came to my senses, I realized that I was in a small clearing surrounded by tall, leafy trees that reached the sky and waved slowly in the light breeze. Around the trees, exquisite birds flutter while they sing a beautiful tune. On the ground condensed soil lies silently and peacefully. My nose tells me that damp moss covers the soft earth. In the distance, a stream trickles enchantingly. My footsteps crunch loudly on the mixed dirt and bark.

Second Prize

Millie Elwin

(Year 3, Little Milton Primary School)

 A Dark Gloomy Forest

There was a dark, gloomy forest. As the thick trees swayed side to side, it looks like the midnight starry sky gets darker. Sometimes it smells like dead flowers and dry fruit. It’s horrific. You don’t want to go there. As the misty moon rises, you can hear 1000 packs of howling wolves.

Third Prize

Imogen Hobbins

(Year 3, Beckley School)

How Birds Learnt to Fly

Have you ever been sitting in your garden on a summer’s day and watched a bird fly? Well, they didn’t use to do that. This is how it all began.

Way back when humans weren’t invented, well almost, there was a land called Canaloo. There were sparkling, raging waterfalls, lots of neon palm leaves and thousands and thousands of different coloured birds. There were yellow long-tailed birds, green sparkling chirpy ones, blue water canary ones and the most beautiful bird, Falona, the red phoenix. The only problem was none of them could fly.

Bookfeast

We recently hosted Bookfeast along with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Ashmolean.  This is the schools part of the Oxford Literary Festival where pupils come to listen to talks from children's authors and illustrators and then go on trails around the Museum to inspire creative writing.

Over 2,300 primary school children came to listen to a fantastic line-up of authors and illustrators.  Kristina Stephenson of Sir Charlie Stinky Socks  fame had her audience singing along as she told the story from a giant picture book with puppets.  Elsewhere, Liz Pichon, the creator of the popular Tom Gates brand, got her entire audience of 296 pupils practising their illustrating skills.  Her passion for drawing could even be seen on her shoes which she had decorated with Tom Gates characters - amazing what you can do with a pair of white shoes and a fabric pen!

 

Liz Pichon's shoes! ©Pitt Rivers Museum

Liz Pichon signs books ©Pitt Rivers Museum

Agent C explains the mission © Pitt Rivers Museum

Pupils were then invited to enter Spy Academy, discovering more about the spy genre as they explored the three museums.  They were met by Agents who briefed them on their mission.  Dr. NoFun wanted to ban all children from visiting museums.  He had left a secret message for his gang to find in the Museum which would help start his plan.  Pupils had to try and find this message first and crack the codes so the evil plans could be thwarted!

First our trainee spies had to look round the collections to find a suitable disguise and a nifty gadget.  There were some brilliant plans for how secret cameras could be hidden in the eyes of statues and how listening devices could be attached to bats since they fly so quietly.  Watch out MI6! If pupils wrote up their spying adventures in the Museum do remember to send them to us: education@prm.ox.ac.uk


This is the fourth consecutive year we have hosted Bookfeast and thanks go to all our volunteers who donned their best hats and fake moustaches to become Secret Agents!  We had fun and I hope everyone else involved did too!