Wicked and National Literacy Trust announce 2024 winners of Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition

The 2024 winners of the Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition have been revealed.

A collaboration between the National Literacy Trust and the stage musical Wicked, as part of its ‘Wicked Active Learning’ cultural and social education programme, the writing competition invited school children to submit pieces about environmental issues this year, with the winners to be announced on Earth Day.

Approximately 1600 entries were received, exploring topics from climate change to animal extinction.

The winner in the nine to 11 age group is Sebastian Kesley (aged ten) from Hiltingbury Junior School in Hampshire, who wrote about the impact of plastic in the ocean on marine life from the perspective of the ocean itself. The runner-up in this category is Arthur Stock (aged ten) from Stanford Junior School in Brighton, whose piece followed a lonely turtle caught in a plastic bag.

The winner in the 11 to 14 age group is Luo Chen He (aged 13) from Co-op Academy in Stoke-on-Trent, who wrote a tale about the importance of activism and the struggle to change the world. Samsritha Vakani (aged 14) from West Bromwich Collegiate, is the runner-up with her poem about planet Earth’s two potential and extremely different futures.

The 2024 judges were children’s author M G Leonard (Beetle Boy), teacher, writer, and presenter Holly King-Mand (Holly’s Classroom), Michael McCabe, executive producer of Wicked in the UK, and Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust.

McCabe commented: “We are particularly proud to announce the winners and runners-up of the Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition on Earth Day 2024. These outstanding pieces of persuasive writing demonstrate how environmentally conscious young people are, and how strongly they advocate for urgent climate action.”

Tim Judge, head of school programmes at the National Literacy Trust, added: “We have been blown away by the amount of impassioned, persuasive essays and stories submitted by pupils this year on the environment. Writing can be great for young people’s wellbeing and this competition shows pupils how they can use their literacy skills to have their voices heard on issues they care about.”

All four students have been rewarded with trips to see Wicked in London for their whole class or writing group, and the two winners will also receive a writing workshop with Leonard for their respective classes.

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