Meet One of Capel Manor College’s Creative Writing Competition Winners
As well as offering various courses in land-based subjects, Capel Manor College provides English and maths GCSE courses for students who need these qualifications to study alongside their main course with us. The creative writing competition was started by Nicola Durr, GCSE and Functional Skills English Lecturer at the College.
Nicola has taught at the College since 2008, and realised quite quickly from her chats in class, that there were lots of students who did creative writing in their own time. Nicola started the competition, open to all, with the hope of encouraging students’ creativity.
The competition has different levels of entry based on ability, entries can be in any format or length, and judging is purely on content (not spelling, punctuation and grammar).
Nicola says, ‘The competition has been running for quite a few years now, and I am always really impressed by the creativity of the entries. I ask various College staff members to read the pieces, and let me know who their favourite is from each level, with a few brief comments about why they chose the entries they did.’
We caught up with Alex, one of this year’s winners and currently studying Level 1 Floristry:
“I have always had a passion for creative writing which started mostly in primary school. Since then, I have continued to write occasionally at home as a fun hobby.
Writing is a form of escapism for me, similar to how you can lose yourself in a book, I love being able to write those chapters for myself. I have always loved English, and so I am always trying to find ways to push myself – which comes easiest for me through creative writing.
As I share a love for both writing and flowers, I decided to combine the two and write something that was a little more personal to me. A bouquet I made in class was the inspiration behind my piece.”
Extract from Alex’s ‘A Bouquet – A Symbol of Love’:
My keen eyes search the table, a menu of flowers laid out before me, my appetite for roses causing me to reach for the comforting blush of pink once again. I secure them tactfully in place, surrounding them in a coat of green and white. Each colour compliments one another as I look down at them with a smile.
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