Five young writers were recognised recently by local Rotarians for their outstanding efforts in a national Rotary writing competition for school age children.

Forty-two entries were received this year, all in the Intermediate category for pupils in years 7 to 9. The topic was Rebuilding and students had the choice of writing a poem or a piece of prose.

Entries this year were to an exceptionally high standard, making the judging quite challenging. As a result, it was decided to award joint second and third place prizes to budding authors.

The experienced judging panel consisted of three members of Woking District Rotary Club: retired headteacher Linda Lake, Ray Alder, and competition organiser Dorothy Flower, who chaired the panel.

The awards, which included vouchers as well as certificates, were presented by the Mayor of Woking, Councillor M. Ilyas Raja, at a recent meeting of Woking District Rotary, in front of all the club’s members.

The overall winner this year was Franklin Flynn from Gordon’s School. In joint second place were George Earwicker of Woking High and Daniella Tinegate of Gordon’s. Third-place winners were Alice Odam and Tara Udassi, both from Gordon’s.

Rotary has long been a supporter of young people and organises competitions to help them achieve success. Woking District Rotary Club has regularly supported this programme, particularly in Youth Speaks (public speaking) and Young Musician categories.

Dorothy Flower said: “The competition called for entrants to show imagination and creativity, along with a very good standard of vocabulary. I’m delighted to say all five of our winners demonstrated these requirements admirably.”

The Rotary Club of Woking District was founded in 1976 to provide opportunities for local people who could not meet during the working day but wanted to get involved with the many communities in Woking. Since its inception, the club has raised over £750,000.