So Sunday was the Wicked Young Writers' Award! Me and ninty-nine others (and our guests) headed to the Apollo Victoria theatre, home of Wicked. I don't know about everyone else, but I was hot and sweaty after a train and tube journey.
Once in the theatre, I sat by myself for a while as I was the first person there in my row. I spent most of the time knocking the pencils and paper off the arms of the chairs that had been put there. Every time I sat up straight with another pencil off the floor, I knocked the one on the other side down. After a few goes at this I was amusing myself, while a group of girls sat in front of me were talking like they'd known each other forever. I have to admit, that made me a little jealous sitting there alone.
The ceremony began with stand-in Elphaba, Natalie Andreou, singing a song from Wicked and she was fantastic. Sam Gayton took to the stage next and hosted a writing workshop on six word stories. I've tried to write a six word story before so I knew I couldn't do it in less than five minutes, but some people wrote some brilliant ones. The younger children seemed to find it easier and that blew me away.
Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon books gave a speech and then Emma Hatton and Savannah Stevenson (Elphaba and Glinda) announced the winners.
My favourite was Wacky Tuesday by Harry Sample who is just six years old. I couldn't write a single page at six years old, so I have huge respect for him and all the kids in the younger categories. They're truly amazing.
After all the excitement, Cressida answered questions from the audience. Cressida Cowell must be one of the most enthusiastic people I've ever seen. Some of her advice was truly inspiring. But my favourite question was from a little girl. She asked, "Is your book the one with Hiccup and Toothless?" Isn't that just priceless?
To top off the show, Emma and Savannah sung with the cast of Wicked and I wanted to see the show more than ever before. I will get to see it at some point!
Then we all gathered on stage for a photo, though you can't see me because I'm right at the back and I'm only 5"2.
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| The finalists and winners! |
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| The view from the Wicked stage. |
But there was an upside to being at the back. There was one girl next to me and then Emma and Savannah. I couldn't believe I was so close to them. The girl next to me was a huge Wicked fan and asked Emma and Savannah for a selfie. I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't jump in there too, so I did!
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| The greatest selfie of all time. |
When we all made our way off the stage, we were handed a tote bag with an anthology in it with all the finalists' entries in it. Except the 18-25 year old entries. I'm guessing this is because some of them might not be suitable for children, but I'm still disappointed I'm not in it. I've downloaded the 18-25 year old one off the internet, but it's not the same.
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| My goodies! |
Oh, and there was a giant cornetto at Victoria station.
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| Do you want anything from the shop? |
So though I didn't win, it didn't matter. I had a weird and wonderful day at the Wicked Young Writers' Award. And if anyone's reading this thinking they're not good enough, you are. You don't need a competition to tell you that, but enter them anyway. If you're lucky, you might end up with a day like this.
Author / Finalist
molly.looby@hotmail.com
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