Two Pontiac elementary students have won top prizes in the Quebec Women’s Institutes’ annual creative writing competition.
Nora Tubman, a Grade 3 student at Dr. S. E. McDowell Elementary School, won first place out of all Grade 3 submissions from across Quebec for her short story about an evil magician who has a change of heart, (see left).
Geillis Tucker, a Grade 2 student at Onslow Elementary School, won second place in the Grade 2 category for her story about two fairies who work together to fight off a thief, (see right).
The competition, organized by local Women’s Institutes across the province, invites students to respond to a particular prompt. This year’s prompt was “an adventure”. A panel of local judges assessed the submissions and selected the top four winners in each grade. The top three entries in each grade were then passed on to the Quebec Women’s Institutes’ executive which chose province-wide winners.
“It encourages the children to write,” said Lynda Horner, education convener for the Pontiac County Women’s Institute. “We’re getting into the technology age, and I think the creative writing is kind of getting lost. The children are very excited when they get their awards. That’s something that means a lot to us.”
The Wizard’s Potion!
By Nora Tubman
There once was a castle in a far off land and a wizard who lived inside. He has a tall black hat and a long blood red cape. He wasn’t quite a gentleman. After all, wizards are bad, right? Well later in the story it will change. The wizard’s name is Claudius. All the mythical creatures are scared of him except the pollen puppies. They’re too cheeky to be scared. If you are wondering, the mythical creatures come from the other side of the land.
Claudius was going for a walk to find some magic mushrooms when he saw something even more magical. It was a magical gumdrop! It was pink and it had a bunch of sugar on it. He grabbed the gumdrop and walked to his castle. When he got to the castle he made a bad potion to make cute animals into vicious ones! He got some leaves and some bones. He grabbed the gumdrop and dropped the stuff in his cauldron and stirred it all up. The potion was green and it smelled disgusting. When he was done he thought, “maybe I should be nice and they’ll like me.”
He dumped the cauldron and walked out of his castle. Claudius was going to say sorry to the mythical creatures because he was mean to them. He said sorry to the dewdrop kittens that were so fluffy and cute. He also said sorry to the moss mice and they were so small that he had to say it twice. Next were the pollen puppies that were also very fluffy but cheeky. He said it to all the other ones. The creatures forgave him. He now understood what kind of mistake he had made. He decided to move his castle to be friends with the creatures and he promised to never ever make bad potions again!
The End!
Forever Fairies
By Geillis Tucker
Once upon a time, there was a fairy named Cassy and her best friend’s name was Marabell. They were BFFs (best friends forever). Then they went to Cassy’s house for a play day, but when they got there, there was a Sprite in the living room stealing Cassy’s stuff. Then the Sprite came over and stole Marabell’s bracelet off her arm! Then Cassy and Marabell got an awesome plan. They were going to trap the Sprite with . . . some twigs, acorns, vines, sticks and Cassy’s old charm to attract the Sprite into the trap. Then Cassy and Marabell hid in the leaves so they don’t get caught by the Sprite. “Shh,” Cassy said. “We have to stay here and stay quiet.” Just then the Sprite came over and got stuck in the trap and said, “this isn’t the last of me!” Then Marabell took the bracelet back. Instead of putting it on her arm, she gave it to Cassy and said, “Here you can take care of it more than me! From one fairy to another!”
