Celebrating our 15th annual Short Story Writing Competition, Sight for Wight held the Awards Ceremony at The Riverside Centre, Newport on Friday 6th December to a full house! This year’s theme was ‘A Funny Thing Happened When……’
Once again, we secured an enviable range of British talent, which this year included, Chesney Hawkes (Singer/Songwriter), Richard Cadell (Sooty & Sweep), Joe Pasquale (Comedian), Steve Power (Nation Radio South and Selina Ross (Nation Radio South) as the celebrity readers.
Our Master of Ceremonies was Maurice Kachuk.
ABOVE PHOTO: Maurice Kachuk
The winners:
The High Sheriff, Graham Biss presented the awards to the three under 18 categories:
Under 8’s Winners
Third Place – Freddie Richardson with his story, ‘My Rabbit’. Freddie won a book voucher & LEGO set kindly donated by Paz Thakrar.
Second Place – Isobel Woodford with her story, ‘Penguins’. Isobel won a voucher kindly donated by Dinosaur Isle.
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Isobel Woodford.
First Place – Olive Miller with her story, ‘The Giraffe Who Had The Longest Neck’. Olive won a book token, kindly donated by TESCO
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Olive Miller.
Olive’s story was recorded by Joe Pasquale.
8 – 11’s Winners
Third Place – Elsie Taylor with her story, The Characters That Escaped. Elsie won a writing set, kindly donated by Wight Business Services.
Second Place – Georgii Iakovlev with the story, The Great Forest Bureaucracy. Georgii won a voucher, kindly donated by Anat Barnes.
First Place – Lillian Woodford with her story, My Story. Lillian won a Waterstones Voucher, kindly donated by Wight Computers. Lillian’s prize includes having her story printed by the County Press. The Mystery Judge said: A very descriptive piece. There they all are, having what could be Sunday lunch and then suddenly it lurches into Wonder Woman! Wonderful! Who would imagine grandma was a spy. The first paragraph made me laugh so much. I can still see that ice cream scoop now!
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Lillian Woodford.
Lillian’s story is read and recorded by Richard Cadell
12 – 17’s Winners
Third Place – Rhys Angus-Gritt with his story, Gary The Goalie. Rhys won a voucher, kindly donated by Sandham Office Services.
Second Place – Yuna Bereza with the story, Hedgehog The Fisher And The Octopus Encounter. Yuna won a voucher, kindly donated by ComiCoffee.
First Place – Rachel Lambert with her story, Blurred. Rachel won a Waterstones voucher, kindly donated by Wight Computers.
ABOVE PHOTO: Rachel with her certificate.
Rachel’s story is read and recorded by Selina Ross.
Under 18’s Certificate of Merit
Due to the high quality of entries, the Mystery Judges decided to award Certificates of Merit to the following:
Evie Cook – The Magical Hydrangea Bush
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Evie Cook.
Lyra Forster – A Funny Thing Happened When The Dog Found His Voice
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Lyra.
Lucia Franco – A Funny Thing Happened When A Cat Stole Some Fish
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Lucia.
Beatrice Thomas – A Funny Thing Happened When She Opened A Book
Grace Wilson – Halloween Fun!
ABOVE PHOTO: High Sheriff Graham Biss presenting award to Grace.
Sight for Wight Patron, Gioia Minghella-Giddens presented the prizes for the adults.
Certificate of Merit
One of our Mystery Judges wanted to comment on a story that, whilst it didn’t quite make the winning categories, did show extreme promise, creativity and flare so a Certificate of Merit was presented to Peter McDonagh.
ABOVE PHOTO: Chris Cane presenting award to Peter.
Peter won a voucher, kindly donated by Appley Manor.
Edana Minghella Award Winner
Edana was a huge supporter of the charity since 2016 and a strong advocate for mental health. In honour of Edana, Chris Cane, competition organiser, created the Edana Minghella Award. This award is for a story with depth, emotion, wellbeing and creativity.
Karleigh Riches was the winner with her story, Karleigh Riches Short Story. Karleigh won a voucher kindly donated by HoverTravel.
ABOVE PHOTO: Gioia Minghella-Giddens presenting award to Karleigh.
Karleigh’s story was read and recorded by Chesney Hawkes
Over 18’s Winners
Third Place – Jackie Follett with her story, Befuddlement. Jackie wins a voucher, kindly donated by Wight Mouse Inn.
ABOVE PHOTO: Gioia Minghella-Giddens presenting award to Jackie.
Second Place – Jackie Follett with her story, Guardian Angel. Jackie won a voucher, kindly donated by Wightlink.
ABOVE PHOTO: Gioia Minghella-Giddens presenting award to Jackie.
First Place – George Miller with his story, A Funny Thing Happened When Kevin Revolted. George won a voucher, kindly donated by Red Funnel.
The Mystery Judge said: I felt that this story fulfilled the brief well. There was a nice twist at the end which still maintained the humour of the story. It was well written with good use of language which painted a believable picture of Kevin and his attitude towards the hotel and its clientele. I enjoyed the humour of the story. One of my criteria when judging was, if this person wrote a book, would I buy it and read it? The answer here was a resounding yes. Well done.
ABOVE PHOTO: Gioia Minghella-Giddens presenting award to George.
George’s story was read and recorded by Steve Power.
The results were announced amidst an evening of local Island music talent with the melodious sounds of Solent Singers, and singer/songwriter Ruby.
Competition organiser, Chris Cane, said: “We were honoured to have such talented and famous readers again this year so a huge thanks to them for their help and support. The entertainment this year was superb. Our celebrity readers, volunteers, performers and staff all gave up their time to support Sight for Wight with this year’s Award Ceremony, so a huge thank you to everyone. This is one of our key fundraising annual events and so vital to continue to help raise funds for our members”
ABOVE PHOTO: Gioia Minghella-Giddens with Chris Cane.
Sight for Wight couldn’t have done the competition without the support of our generous sponsors: Appley Manor, Anat Barnes, ComiCoffee, Chale Parish Council, Chris Cane, Dinosaur Isle, Janice Ferguson, Garlic Farm, Hovertravel, Isle of Wight Distillery, Isle of Wight Pearl Centre, Debbie Mason, Newport Parish Council, Red Funnel, Sandham Office Services, Anna Southwell, Kris Stevens, TESCO, Mayuri Thakrar-Barnes, Paz Thakrar, Waterstones, Wight Business Services, Wight Computers, Wightlink.
You can watch the Award Ceremony by clicking on the link below.
