5-7 Age Category Wicked Young Writer Awards 2018 The Man on the Street By Fern Brindle Poor old man sitting on the street, Watching cars passing by his feet, Cardboard box for his bed, A newspaper blanket, a rock pillow for his head, It makes me so sad to see people sitting on the street, Watching people passing by their feet, It’s like they don’t care, they are so rude They pass by the man without offering any food, He sits outside all year round, Through cold, warm and wet without a sound, He has no family, he’s all by himself, It’s really not nice, I wish I could help, As he sits there on the street, Watching me passing his feet, People looking everywhere, Everywhere except for at the man on the street, Watching the cars passing by his feet. 2 5-7 Age Category The Bumpy Trail By Daniel MacAlpine We were ready to go. Dad started our brand new 4x4 pick-up engine. I waved to mum as we drove off. First we turned off the main road, down a muddy, wet, bumpy trail. It was so much fun. We went up a nearly vertical hill. Suddenly, Dad slammed on the brakes, screech! We saw something brown and furry peeping out of the grass. I jumped down out of the pick-up truck and walked slowly over. I saw an.....OTTER! I was really excited as I had never seen an otter in the wild before. As I got closer, I noticed that the otter had a sore leg. I beckoned to Dad to come and have a look. He GASPED! It had a fishing net wrapped around his paw. I looked at Dad and wondered what we should do. Then I remembered about the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) hospital in Broadford. I had visited the hospital when we were on holiday last year on the Isle of Skye. Dad called the hospital to ask for their advice. They asked if we could bring the otter to the hospital so that he could be cared for. Dad and I wrapped the otter in a cosy blanket. The otter was trembling but he was so exhausted that he let us carefully lift him into the back of the pick-up. We set off back along the bumpy trail. This time much more slowly so as not to frighten the otter. We came round a sharp corner and Dad had to swerve suddenly to avoid a tree trunk which was lying across the track. The pick-up lurched into a ditch at the side of the dirt track. Dad revved the engine to try and get us out but it was no good. We were stuck! The otter was getting more and more distressed and making squeaking noises in the back of the truck. Dad and I looked at each other in panic. Now what were we going to do? We needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible before the otter became too frightened. Dad phoned the local garage and a man with a six wheeled drive pick-up said that he would come and help us to get out of the ditch. I spoke softly to the otter while we waited. It seemed like a long time but eventually he arrived and towed us out. We carried on and arrived in Broadford. A kind lady called Sarah came out to meet us. She lifted the otter gently and took him inside to be examined. Dad and I went back to the holiday cottage where we were staying to tell mum all about our adventure. 3 Wicked Young Writer Awards 2018 A few weeks later I received a letter to say thank you for helping to rescue ‘Oscar’ and a photograph showing his mended paw. I can’t wait to go on the bumpy trail again and wonder what we might find next time?! 4 5-7 Age Category Naughty Sam and the Tooth Fairy By Isabella Watson-Gandy Once upon a time, there was a boy called Sam. If you noticed him, you might say he had brown hair, freckles and sticky-out ears. The only thing that made him not ordinary was how naughty he was. Now lots of children are naughty but Sam was naughty in a mean and nasty way. He tried to catch Santa Claus to steal all the other children’s presents. Well, Santa knows all about naughty children. He didn’t come to Sam’s house so the only person Sam managed to trick was his Daddy. Sam’s Dad got a big bump on his head and was so cross that Sam didn’t get any presents that year. He tried to catch the Easter Bunny next so that he could steal all the chocolate Easter Eggs. Sam’s Mummy was very cross when she discovered Sam had painted all the carpets with glue. Sam did not get any Easter eggs that year. Did Sam stop? Not a bit! Next he hid his grandad’s false teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Sam thought that because there were lots of false teeth, he could trick he tooth fairy into giving him lots of coins. When Sam woke that morning, he was happy to see that the tooth fairy had come in the night. His grandad’s false teeth were gone from under his pillow. Instead, in their place, was a big pile of plastic coins. Now in fairy stories, naughty children learn their lesson and become good. Not a bit of it. 5 Wicked Young Writer Awards 2018 When Sam grew up, he became a bank manager and is just waiting for when Santa Claus comes in so he can get his revenge. The End 6 5-7 Age Category Swimming By Alexandra Prideaux Excited! Swim, splash, bubbles, slippy slide! Changing room: Small; wet floor. Dad and I jumping in – nervous about going under – Up nose, spit out. Feel wobbly. I wonder what’s the smell, the noise? Chlorine, sounds of happiness, water, armbands, boys and girls. Doggy paddle. Fountain, drains through the cracks. Tickly showers, stinging eyes, vending machine snacks. 7 Wicked Young Writer Awards 2018 Teddy’s Adventure Join Teddy in a trip to Outer Space By Daisy Donovan Chapter One Once, there was a small but gentle Yorkie who had a big heart. Teddy the super dog was not a normal dog she had a magical bell which allowed her to go on adventures like Candy Time. It was her best one yet but in this one there is a twist a big one indeed, but I will tell you later. Every day Teddy falls down the stairs but don’t worry about her because she is indestructible. If her bell rings she goes on a magic adventure. Chapter Two Today Teddy’s bell rang and a rocket appeared in front of her but behind her was her friend Tiny, who was a long haired Chihuahua. They both jumped into the rocket and zoomed into outer space. They saw a planet which looked like much fun as it had a ring around it. They thought that they could slide around the ring and have lots of fun but they didn’t know how to steer the space ship. Chapter Three All of a sudden, the space ship did what they wanted to and landed on Saturn. They started to have a play on the ring like a slide. After an hour, Teddy got dizzy and wanted to go somewhere else to have a play Tiny agreed as she was starting to get dizzy. They got back into the rocket and Teddy said, “I want to go to the moon I think it is made out of cheese” Tiny agreed she was starting to feel a bit hungry. When they landed, they smelt the moon to make sure it was cheese, but it was actually made out of ice cream. They both dug into it like a digger, they found out it was all flavours of different ice cream with sprinkles of doggie biscuits and one big bone for a flake. It was like a dream come true! But aliens appeared on the moon. They were dressed with silver clothing that looked weird. Just then, the aliens came running to the rocket they wanted to take over the world. Teddy and Tiny were so scared they ran into the rocket and found a gadget that made them invisible, so they could trip up the aliens and get the two big bones to take home with them. Chapter Four They were both so scared they couldn’t even speak. They whispered to the rocket, “take us back to Earth”. When they got closer to Earth the invisibleness wore off as they were going so fast. When they got back to Earth, the bell rang 8 5-7 Age Category and took them to Teddy’s house. They got the giant bone and carried it to Teddy’s bedroom, and watched funny movies whilst eating the ginormous bone. Then they fell to sleep. 9 Wicked Young Writer Awards 2018 Story of Mermaids By Deniz Kocak Once upon a time there was a mermaid family. The mum’s name was Ariel and the dad’s name was Kristoff. The children were called Kayla, Kacy and Lucy. Ariel showed the family the shell she found under the sea. The shell dropped off her hand and fell in the sea, and a creature wanted to get it.