Swansea’s next world writing superstar has been unearthed.
Jade Newson, an 11-year-old pupil at Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive School, has beaten off scores of other talented young wordsmiths to win an illustrious competition called Finding Dylan.
The competition was launched by Swansea Council last summer in association with the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize – the world’s highest cash prize for young writers. It was aimed at discovering the next Dylan Thomas in Swansea.
Children were asked to write an essay, poem or diary of no more than 1,000 words on the subject of either My Summer, My Team, My Swansea or My Wales.
The competition was targeted at all former year seven children in Swansea who left primary school last July.
Jade, an ex-St Thomas Primary School pupil, wrote a poem called The Swansea Sunset while sitting on her front doorstep in Port Tennant.
The judging panel consisted of authors, academics and distinguished past pupils of Swansea’s schools and universities. They included writer Peter Stead.
Iwan Davies, Swansea Council’s Head of Culture and Tourism, said: “Swansea has a rich tradition of generating exceptional writing talent but it’s fair to say the great Dylan Thomas is the city’s most famous son and that his legacy still endures across the world.
“This competition was aimed at giving Swansea schoolchildren the chance to express themselves through their writing and the quality of the entries we received was staggering.
“But Jade’s poem really stood out from the crowd. It was very Dylan-esque in its style and structure and she’s a thoroughly deserving winner.
“Jade is very gifted and I look forward to following her future writing exploits with close interest.”
Finding Dylan was supported by Travel House.
Jade’s success means she’s now picked up a family trip to Disneyland in Paris as a prize.
Have a look at http://www.dylanthomasprize.com/prize or call 01792 474051 for more information.
