Scottish pupils have impressed judges with their touching diary entries depicting the outbreak of war.
Liam McNamee, from Castleview Primary School in Edinburgh, and Maya Al-Najim, from The High School of Glasgow, have been announced as the winners of Poppyscotland’s My Secret War Diary competition.
Launching as part of the charity’s annual learning pack, the competition asked learners to write a diary entry depicting how the outbreak of war would impact their lives. With an open-ended brief, pupils were invited to draw on conflicts from past, present or future.
Liam, a P7 pupil, won the primary school category with his “unique perspective”, choosing to write from the point of a father struggling to process what the change would mean to his family. Maya, who is in S3, took the secondary prize with her “emotive and gripping” diary entry set in Belgium in 1914.
This year’s competition saw over 140 entries from schools all across Scotland. Eight judges from Poppyscotland, Legion Scotland and Officers’ Association Scotland came together to shortlist the entries down to 16 per category. After much deliberation from the judges these were further narrowed down to just six final entries per category.
The six finalists were made public on the Poppyscotland website for the public to choose their winners. With a phenomenal total of more than 1,400 votes cast across the ten days, the public chose Liam and Maya as their winners.
Gordon Michie, head of fundraising and learning at Poppyscotland, presented Liam with his award in front of his peers, saying: “It was a great pleasure to visit Castleview and present this year’s primary school winner with his certificate and the £500 vouchers for the school to use.
“Every year our team of judges are hard pressed to short list for the public voting. The creative thought and effort that all entrants put in is something that their schools are rightly proud off.
“However, Liam’s diary entry stood out and painted a picture through his words of what was happening in those early days of the Second World War. It made it very easy for me to think I was transported back to that time.”
Katie White, Liam’s class teacher, said: “Poppyscotland’s learning competition this year fitted seamlessly into our curriculum. It boosted my pupils’ awareness of Poppyscotland’s work and allowed them to further contextualise their learning about the Second World War. Having a competition to enter sparked enthusiasm amongst my learners and provided us with a whole term’s worth of writing work.
“I am incredibly proud of Liam’s win, as is he. Not only is it a huge personal achievement for him, but it is a wonderful way for him to finish his time at Castleview Primary School.”
Thomas Connor, a P7 pupil from Gargieston Primary School and Eva-Grace Young, an S3 pupil from St Joseph’s Academy, both in Kilmarnock, have also been recognised with the Judge’s Choice award for their thoughtful and emotive entries.
Both Liam and Maya will receive £500 worth of vouchers for their school, a visit from Bud, Poppyscotland’s micro museum, and a class trip to Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory. Each of the Judge’s Choice award recipients will receive £50 of vouchers for their school and a tour of the factory.
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