Write Your Own Historical Fiction 2022 – the winners

The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-19 years

After another year of high-quality fiction writing from our young people, we are pleased to announce that the winners in all of the categories are:

School Years 5-6:

• Eloise Burt – The HMS Titanic. Old Priory Junior Academy, Plymouth
• Hannah Tan – Not Forgotten. Old Priory Junior Academy, Plymouth
• Livia Posner – A Real Find. Europa School, UK, Culham, Oxfordshire

School Years 7-9: 

• Aanya Apte – The Day the Roads Ran Red. St. Alban’s High School for Girls
• Ilyas Formuli – Tank Man. QEGS, Wakefield
• Theo McCowen – The Vietnam War. Sidcot School, Winscombe
• Harris Good – Fire and Brimstone. Tadcaster Grammar
• Tasneem Howlader – Wajanja Zuri: HMT Empire. Azhar Academy Girls School 

School Years 10-13:

• Jemima Freeman – The Sacred Band of Thebes. Guildford High School for Girls
• Elle Harvey-Turner – The Transfer. Guildford High School for Girls
• Luca Valovin – Burn Vile Creature. Holmfirth High School 

Best Character:

• Olivia Bell – The Curious Case of a Man Without Moderation. Guildford High School for Girls
• Madeleine Conway – A Salem Story. St Albans High School for Girls
• Summer-Rose Rogers – The Amethyst Necklace. North Newton Primary School

The winning stories are available to download at the bottom of this page.

We are always amazed at the imaginative and factual content that young minds have woven into their own stories. The variety of the historical periods and the range of content that we see in the entries makes this one of the most difficult competitions that we have to judge. Each entry is read by judges and discussed before going to our final guest judge, who is an author of historical fiction.

The guest judge is Ally Sherrick, acclaimed children’s fiction author and former winner of the HA Young Quills for Historical Fiction.

This year the breadth of the storytelling across the ages was again superb.

About the winning stories:

School Year 5-6

Eloise Burt – The HMS Titanic. Old Priory Junior Academy, Plymouth

A well detailed story of Edwardian family life set abord the ill-fated Titanic.

Judge's comment: The writer also handles the pivot from the fun and glamour of life on board to the moment of high drama when the ship hits the iceberg and begins to sink very well.

Hannah Tan – Not Forgotten. Old Priory Junior Academy, Plymouth

A highly convincing fictionalised memoir written from the point of view of Publius, a Roman soldier on campaign in Gaul with Julius Caesar’s army.

Judge’s comment: A very accomplished piece of writing, and one of my favourites across the whole competition.

Livia Posner – A Real Find. Europa School, UK, Culham, Oxfordshire

The story of Boudicca, legendary warrior and Queen, brilliantly told from the perspective of her sword.

Judge’s comment: This is an imaginative and original telling. I loved the voice in this, especially the humour – and the unusual viewpoint.

School Year 7-9    

Aanya Apte – The Day the Roads Ran Red. St. Alban’s High School for Girls

The story of the Russian Revolution is told through the lens of an ordinary Russian family who are split apart as a sister watches her brothers turn against one another as they support the different sides of tsarism and communism.

Judge’s comments: We really feel for Olga as she watches the political idealism of the two sides tear her brothers apart. In addition, there is a sophistication in how the writer mirrors this with Olga’s growing sense of foreboding about the wider political situation and what this might mean for the Russian people.

Ilyas Formuli – Tank Man. QEGS, Wakefield

Who is the man that stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989? This story creates a life for this famous young man and speculates on his part in those historical events.

Judge’s comments: The writer employs a powerful use of language to build a compelling and heart-rending account of the events leading up to and immediately following that moment. I particularly liked the deft intercutting of flashbacks interspersed with the drama of the ongoing protest and the advance and then attack of the PLA forces.

Theo McCowen – The Vietnam War. Sidcot School, Winscombe

This is the story of young American soldiers tasked with destroying a weapons factory in the heart of the Vietnam jungle – a real life war story, with all the terror that war can bring.

Judge’s comments: Crucially for an action-story, there is an excellent build-up of tension using often visceral language which is full of pace and colour. Overall, this story was both historically convincing and full of exciting incident, with a main character you were really rooting for.

Harris Good – Fire and Brimstone. Tadcaster Grammar

Set on the fateful day in 79AD when Vesuvius exploded, this is the story of Julius and his mother whose lives would be lost in minutes as their city was covered.

Judge’s comments: this story thoughtfully brings together the events of AD79 with the fact that there were minor tremors seventeen years earlier which were ignored. A well thought out way of giving a voice to the lives of the ordinary people of that city.

Tasneem Howlader – Wajanja Zuri: HMT Empire. Azhar Academy Girls School

Beginning the journey to England as part of the Windrush migration this story recounts the feeling of being a migrant as well as introducing some of the rich characters who were also make that important journey from the Caribbean to the UK.

Judge’s comments: A really well written story in the style of a memoir, the characterisation of which felt very believable. The excitement, fear and trepidation of a new life in England compared to the reality upon arrival came through well.

School Year 10-13  

Jemima Freeman – The Sacred Band of Thebes. Guildford High School for Girls

A powerful and unusual story set in Ancient Greece, of a young Theban solider, Nikos, and his fighting companion and lover, Leocrates, facing up to the might of the Spartan army.

Judges’ comments: This is the work of a very talented young writer, clearly in strong command of their use of language. One of my favourite pieces across the competition – bravo!

Elle Harvey-Turner – The Transfer. Guildford High School for Girls

A tense and exciting Cold War-set story about a young football player, Max and his attempted escape with his younger sister across the border from East Germany into the West.

Judges’ comments: There is a skilful building of tension throughout, especially in the nail-biting scene where Max and his family leave the apartment building, level by level in the middle of the night while trying not to be heard. A well-executed and intriguing take on the brief.

Luca Valovin – Burn Vile Creature. Holmfirth High School

A dramatic story of the capture and burning of village healer, Celeste, accused by Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General, of being a witch at the time of the infamous Pendle Witch Trials in Lancashire, England.

Judges’ comments: This is a vividly imagined, heartfelt account with much to recommend it.

Best Character 

Olivia Bell – The Curious Case of a Man Without Moderation. Guildford High School for Girls

An intriguingly titled story about the literary labours behind bars of 18th century French nobleman, politician and writer, Marquis de Sade.

Madeleine Conway – A Salem Story. St Albans High School for Girls

The dramatic story of Mary Griggs, a young girl who makes the shocking discovery that her father, the local doctor is involved in making false accusations of witchcraft at the time of the Salem Witch Trials in late 17th century New England.

Summer-Rose Rogers – The Amethyst Necklace. North Newton Primary School

A touching story of a young girl, Wnyflaed, who has come from across the sea with the rest of her tribe to settle in a place called ‘Angle Land’.