500 ‘young thinkers’ join writing event for DarwIN Shrewsbury Festival
Almost 500 'young thinkers' have taken part in a writing competition penning letters to Shrewsbury's most famous son.
Following the success of last year’s competition, the Shropshire Young Thinkers’ contest will be back to kick start the DarwIN Shrewsbury Festival this week.
This year’s 496 entrants have taken part in a ‘Dear Darwin’ themed competition, writing letters to Charles Darwin enticing him on a journey of discovery in the past, present or future in this world or another.
At Friday evening’s main event, judges Anna Sutton, provost of University Centre Shrewsbury (UCS), Joanna Morris of Morris & Company and Jake Evans who has previously won ‘National Young Storyteller of the Year’, will select a winner from each of the three age categories.
“The submitted work is outstanding,” said Anna. UCS co-sponsors the competition with Morris & Company.
“The submissions reflect the wonderful imagination of Shropshire youth, as well as their keen intellect and kind and caring natures.”
The students invited Darwin to visit such far flung places as the Marciano Trench (located in the western Pacific Ocean and the deepest place on earth); Northern Siberia to view the Tunguska impact site which has yet to be fully explained; and Japan to ride on a Maglev train which uses electromagnets to travel at nearly 400mph. Closer to home, one student invited Darwin to one of her favourite places on Earth, the Long Mynd.
Others suggestions included helping Darwin update his theory of evolution, or travel in a time machine with some of history’s greatest scientists.
“We are always keen to nurture and support the next generation of thinkers in our county,” said Joanna. “This competition is a thought-provoking and fun opportunity to highlight the enthusiastic and inspiring young talent we have here in Shropshire.”
In the lead-up to Friday’s event, the judges were faced with the difficult task of narrowing down the entries to just 21 finalists.
Those finalists, in three age categories (7-10, 11-13 and 14-16), will present their entry with a reading of their letter at the awards ceremony and one winner will then be selected in each age category.
