The competition was formed as part of our ongoing commitment to foster an awareness of copyright among school-age children. Each year the competition introduces the concept of copyright and its connection to creativity, and is supplemented by the ALCS copyright teaching resources that are also available for teachers, librarians and pupils to download for free on the CKG shadowing site.

2018 winners

This year almost 500 children entered the competition which asked them to write a news article based on a story of their choice. The standard of entries was incredibly high, and some very exciting and impressive stories were submitted.

The first prize though went to Jack Oliver from Upton-by-Chester High School for his news story of Little Red Riding Hood. Jack has won a Kindle, a set of shortlisted books and £500 worth of books for his school library. Jack also attended the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards ceremony in London.

Our congratulations also go to the runners up, Katie Thorley from Fernwood School for her news story on Patrick Ness’s Release, focussing on the paranormal aspect of the novel, and Madiha Hussain for her charming and hilarious take on Rapunzel. Both have won a selection of the shortlisted books.

We’d like to thank all the entrants and want to encourage them to continue to write! Reading the entries is always such a joy, and winners are very hard to choose.

Congratulations to our winner and two runners-up. Read their stories below.

Winner: Jack Oliver

Age 12, Upton-By-Chester High School, pictured left with Amnesty CILIP Honour winners, Levi Pinfold and Angie Thomas, and Jordan Stephens, writer, performer and Amnesty CILIP Honour judge.

Wolf shot dead!

In the early hours of this morning, in the cottage of the town’s local granny, a grey lunar wolf was shot dead. Both the granny and her granddaughter are missing. It is believed these women are responsible for this heinous crime and have supposedly fled the scene.

The rare grey lunar wolf is extremely endangered and inches away from extinction with a tragic 130 left in the wild. Many scientists and conservation specialists are devoted to bringing these beautiful creatures back to stability. One angered animal lover had this to say: “Hunters and poachers disgust me. They put their lives above animals and don’t care what beautiful creature will die in consequence to their actions.”

The authorities are currently searching for the granny and granddaughter (Little Red Riding Hood) in hope that they will be able to inform them further of their current situation. Forensic scientists are working frantically on the scene to try and uncover any clues to solve this crime.

The scene was discovered at 11am this morning by none other than the King’s beautiful daughter Aurora: “As usual, I walked to Red’s house to join her for breakfast at her Granny’s but she wasn’t there, so I assumed she had already started to walk. When I arrived, I found the poor wolf bleeding out on the floor. With Little Red Riding Hood nowhere to be seen I tried to help the wolf, but I knew then that he wouldn’t make it.”

If anybody has any information regarding this tragic event, please contact the police immediately on the website www.fairytalepolice.co.uk

Runner up: Katie Thorley

Age 13, Fernwood School

Washington Whisperer: From beyond the grave…

Somehow, the cosy district of Frame, Washington has been touched by ‘the cold transparent hand of a poltergeist’ as quoted by Mayor Michelle Trent.

This situation started on the evening of June 6th, during a commute from work by an oil rig worker we’ll call ‘Dan’ for anonymity purposes…

“I was riding along the barren street when I saw a female ghostly figure emerge from the greenery by Frame City Lake, ambling along, dazed and bewildered. She strolled in to the road and I pulled over to call the police to which I provided an eye witness account and helped police sketch artist form a composite.” (Shown above).

“I am traumatised a great deal,” Dan continued. “I never believed in ghosts and ghouls until I could see one before my very own eyes.”

Some Frame residents believe that this poltergeist sighting could link to the recent death of Katherine ‘Katie’ van Lewwen (pictured below left) who was strangled then drowned in Frame City Lake (pictured above right) by her boyfriend Tony Randall who is awaiting sentencing for murder in the first degree.

Paranormal expert Jennifer Halls exclusively told Washington Whisperer, “some spirits don’t realise they’re dead and believe they are still alive so they stumble around aimlessly re-exploring the world.” Halls explained “these type of spirits are usually harmless and won’t appear often.”

Residents are recommended to continue their journeys upon seeing the poltergeist and shouldn’t feel threatened.

If you are concerned about paranormal activity, call expert Jennifer.

Reported by Katie Thorley for Washington News Inc.

Scared of Ghosts and Ghouls? Call Jenny’s Spirit-Scare Hotline. Calls cost 50 cents + standard network rate.

Runner up: Madiha Hussain

Age 14, Woking High School

Nauseating nits are now no more

Over a decade of world-record hair growth was cut short only yesterday evening, as the reigning champion for ‘Longest Hair In The World’ treated herself to a bob cut. This was done to officially exile the ongoing infestation of nauseating nits within the hair which had been sipping on her blood since birth.

Eighteen-year-old Rapunzel was born with a medical condition so severely brain-damaging that scientists and doctors still have yet to give it a name. Generalised, the illness generates bacteria which causes the hair to contain a mutation of malfunctioning cells that proceed with mitosis too quickly for the body to handle. Along the this rushed cell division, lice begin to scavenger through the hair because of the rapid influx of bacteria.

When her parents were informed of this tragic infection their beloved daughter possessed, they invested in a personal hairdresser who, along with Rapunzel, was moved to a private property in a nearby woodland. The town’s people grew so fearful of the girl that nobody ever visited her and rightly so, as Rapunzel was repeatedly told during her childhood that she couldn’t leave the house until her hair was environmentally-friendly.

Nevertheless, Rapunzel found her own sources of entertainment other than homeschooling, discovering that she was an artist at heart – between the frequent hair treatments, she decorated the walls with elaborate paintings. Better still, Rapunzel’s parents put on light shows for her every year on her birthday, releasing thousands of lanterns into the sky, as a gift for their daughter.

However, after blossoming into adulthood, Rapunzel has been allowed to cut her hair, given that the last three dozen years of treatment have failed. So, yesterday at six o’clock in the evening, the very last nit was removed, finally resolving this mysterious issue altogether.

Read about the 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards

Read about the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Shadowing Scheme