YOUNG writers from Sarum Academy have been showing off their flair with words by taking part in the inaugural Big Write competition.

Eight lucky first prize winners were handed a Kindle Fire, sponsored by Sir Robert McAlpine, contractors for the new Sarum Academy building, and Cube Design, its architects.

Second and third placed entrants won tickets and vouchers to local cultural events and bookshops. Judges from each of the four categories in the competition – short story, poetry, journalistic and science – attended a special ceremony on Thursday and handed out prizes sponsored by their respective organisations. All the judges were highly complementary about the winning pieces, whittled down from nearly 100 entries. Dr Steve Preston, of the Defence Science Technology Laboratories at Porton Down and a judge in the science category said: “It was a pleasure to meet such an enthusiastic and talented group of pupils.”

As part of their prize, six pupils will visit the Salisbury Journal offices to edit their entries for publication. Head of news and head judge in the journalistic category, Morwenna Blake, said: “The judges were all really impressed by the standard of work produced by these young people, and hope they continue to enjoy writing in the future. I am very much looking forward to welcoming the winners of the journalistic category to the Journal and working with them to edit their pieces for publication.” The winners were: Short Story Category - Max Wilson-Hebben and John Duncan; Poetry Category - Michael McMenamin John Duncan and Katy Byatt ; Journalistic Category - Ashley Percival and Joanna Lengiewicz ; Science Category - Harriet Goodyear and Katie-Jane Wreford.