Stories of Joy and Hope: the winners of Smriti Halls' competition are announced...
Published on: 22 February 2021
We're excited to announce the three winners of our Writer in Residence Smriti Halls' amazing story-writing competition!
Back in October 2020 we announced a fantastic story-writing competition for the chance for a lucky winner to receive a special visit from Smriti Halls and lots of books for their school, while two runners up would receive a set of Smriti's books for themselves and one for their school library.
We're thrilled to announce the three winners:
Overall winner: Abhinaya, age 7
Runner up: Max age 7
Runner up: Bonnie, Year 6
Smriti said:
"Congratulations to everyone who took part. I was delighted with all the wonderful entries! I chose the winners because they really put a smile on my face. I loved the fabulous Smoothie Disco and its super message of helping each other, the Joke Book got me giggling and Hoping for Joy was such a tender story that it moved me. Well done everyone!"
Take a look at the winning entries below. Congratulations Max, Bonnie and Abhinaya - and thank you to everybody who entered!
The Smoothie Disco by Abhinaya
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Abhinaya's entry for the Stories of Hope competition, the Smoothie Disco
Hoping for Joy by Bonnie
Once there lived a young girl called Milly and two months ago her parents got divorced. She still can't get over it and the sadness has left her miserable; she always stresses about things and hopes that things will get better. She now lives with her mum and stepdad. No matter how much she loves them she still can't stop thinking about how things used to be.
A few days ago, Milly, her mum and stepdad moved to a new area. And if things weren't stressful enough already, she had to move to a new school and make new friends! Her first day of school was a blur. “Hopefully the next day will be better” she thought to herself, “hopefully.” The next day came, Milly got up, got ready for school and got going. As soon as she walked into school, she already knew that the day would get better. Two girls came up to her as she walked through the school gates.
“Hi!” one of them said cheerfully. "I'm May and this is my friend Lilly!”
“Hi,” Milly said with hesitation. “I'm Milly.”
“I've not seen you before, are you new?” asked Lilly kindly.
“Uh y-yes I am.” Milly replied shyly.
“We can be your new friends if you want!” They both smiled as they said it.
“Ok!” That was the first time Milly actually felt happy in 2 months!
After that, the day went past so quickly. Milly felt very happy about her new friends and she went home with a big smile on her face.
“You look happy!” said Milly’s mum as she got home “Have you made some nice friends?”
“Yes and they’re so nice!” Milly smiled to herself. After that day, Milly always had the best time with her friends. They stayed best friends for all their lives! They loved each other, they laughed with each other and most of all they shared joyful memories.
Topics: Writing, Features, Smriti Halls
