President David Mee hosted the annual awards ceremony for Lochaber’s young writers at the Club’s business lunch on Wednesday 4th March held in the Alexandra Hotel. The theme set by Rotary in Britain and Ireland was “Happiness in Nature”. With a wealth of creative essays and poems submitted, the judges had a challenging job working their way through over 120 entries.
Head judge, totally independent from the Rotary Club, was Lochaber Times’ Senior Reporter, Fiona Scott. To reflect their ages, the competition is split into three categories – junior (up to 10), intermediate (11 – 13) and senior (14 and above).
Winner at senior level was Charlotte Lacey from Strontian with her sensitive essay “Like an oak growing old” closely followed by Jamie Hogg’s clever poem “Do we find happiness in nature anymore?”
At Intermediate level the winner was Elspeth MacLean from Spean Bridge, with her engaging “Happiness in Nature” story, with Aisling Flavin’s lovely and imaginative “A Dawn Chorus” in second place. Aisling is from Invergarry. The Junior level winner was a touching essay entitled “Family” by Kami Neville from Roy Bridge closely followed by Ava MacLeod’s warm and descriptive “Happiness in Nature”. Eva is from Spean Bridge.
President David presented all the young writers with a certificate with the winners being awarded a £30 book token and runners-up a £20 token.
Praising and thanking the Lochaber Times and schoolteachers for their encouragement. He added “the students are a credit to their schools and to Lochaber. The three winning entries will proceed to the Scotland South final where they will compete against entries from over a hundred Rotary Clubs”.