The Henley College Creative Writing Competition

The Henley College aspire programme ran its annual creative writing competition, ending with five amazing entries. Heather Colley, a published author and PhD student in Literature at the University of Oxford, was judging the competition, and was thoroughly impressed by all of them and had a hard time choosing the winner and highly commended entry.

WINNER: Daisy Pitt with her story ‘Every Breath You Take’ (pictured left)

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Amy Williams with her story 'Dream On' (pictured right)

Eleanor Witcher, Aspire Programme Lead and Extended Project Co-Ordinator and A Level English Teacher, says, "Well done to everyone who entered the competition, this is a great way of showing of your skills. Your work has been reviewed and judged by a published author – not many students can say that! I hope that you are all very proud of this achievement."

Read Daisy's piece here: Daisy-Pitt-Creative-Writing-Winner-Every-Breath-You-Take.pdf

Daisy said,

"I signed up to the competition as I want to study literature at university, winning it feels great and it will really help with my university applications. Heather was really lovely and her session was amazing!"

Heather's feedback of Daisy's work was "I thought Daisy’s story had really wonderful pacing and a clear narrative arc. The writer created an interesting and complex family relationship and placed it within a dystopian world that feels very relevant today. And the author’s voice really came through - it was distinct, sharp, and well honed."

Read Amy's piece here: Amy-Williams-Creative-Writing-Dream-On.pdf

Amy said,

"I'd love to be an author in the future and I'd love to go to university to study English, and I am so grateful to The Henley College for this opportunity, and to Heather for coming in and judging my work."

Heather's feedback of Amy's work was "I thought the writing in Amy’s piece was extremely vivid, I could imagine the scene and characters very clearly. The story was really well-observed and I felt especially that the author expressed their narrator’s stream of consciousness in a powerful way.”

Well done to everyone involved, you should be very proud of yourselves.

If you are interested in our English Literature course, read more here.

If you would like to fnd out more about our Aspire programme, read more here.