St. Nicholas Parochial School Writing Competition

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I spent part of this beautiful day at St. Nicholas Parochial School. It had been my great pleasure to judge a story writing competition of the efforts of the 3rd/4th class. Now that was a difficult task! Every one of the stories submitted were incredibly well written with memorable characters, excellent plots and incredible journeys. I had to read and reread and reread, before finally settling on the three winners. So congratulations to :
1st Prize: Isabel Smith for her very contemporary, dystopian style story , The War Has Begun
2nd Prize: Nathan McNeela for his exciting seafaring mystery, The Man and the Island
3rd Prize: Lucille Destarde for her story of an exciting dream-like journey; Last Monday
and to all the rest, I just wish I could have given you all an award because the stories were all great!

During my visit to the class to present the awards, I was treated to 3 lovely bits of music (two were sung by the entire class and one was performed by Isabel, a piece chosen to complement her story) and a lively discussion about writing and books. The books the children read are incredibly varied and their discussion was worthy of any conference panel! We could have gone on for the rest of the day. Their energy and enthusiasm and creativity was infectious. So thank you to all the children of the 3rd/4th class of St. Nicholas Parochial School and to their teacher, Wendy Walsh for a fantastic event and allowing me to be a small part of your wonderful class!

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