DROITWICH Spa High School has revealed the winner of this year’s Karen Moore Award for Creative Writing as Year 11 student Hope Rose. 

More than 40 entries were received from year groups across the school who were all trying to win the trophy, sponsored by the Droitwich Arts Network, and the cash prize of £100.

Four entries – by by Matthew Oliver in Year 8, Annabel Brannan in Year 9, Hope Rose in Year 11 and Charlie Hunter in Year 12 – were selected to be sent to Anna Fern, an ex-student of the school who now works as a script development editor for ITV in London. 

The four entries were all very strong, but Anna finally decided that the best entry was by Hope.

The award was established in 2019 following the retirement of former deputy head Karen Moore.

Mrs Moore said: ‘As this is the third year we have run the competition, I am delighted that the number of entries continues to go up and that we had the biggest number of all this time.

“I was also really pleased that the entries ranged from Year 8 to the 6th Form, with some of the younger students showing exceptional writing skills which bodes well for the future.

“We always try to give a title which allows students to give their own interpretation and this year the title was The Beautiful Game.

“The diversity of ideas across the entries was astonishing. In short, we read a lot of creative thinking and writing which is exactly the purpose of the competition. As this year’s judge Anna Fern says, this is exactly what she looks for in her role as a script development editor at ITV.”

Helen Karakashian, chair of Droitwich Arts Network, said: “Droitwich Arts Network is very happy to be supporting this creative writing competition. It is always a joy to judge the high quality writing of the students and I am delighted that so many students took part this year.”