Elthorne Park student wins top poetry prize
A local youngster has scooped a top national prize after taking part in local creative writing workshops.
Tariq Williams, 13, a student at Elthorne Park High School won a Wicked Young Writers Award for his poem ‘Tired All Day’ after taking part in the Super Heros creative writing workshops at the Horizon’s Centre in Hanwell.
Top poets and writers led the sessions, including the children’s author, poet and broadcaster, Michael Rosen, young poet, Caroline Bird and the award-winning author and broadcaster, Lemn Sissey.
Tariq’s award was presented at a star-studded evening at the Apollo Theatre in central London on Friday 9 December where he met HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and former Children’s Laureate and bestselling author, Michael Morpurgo.
He won tickets to see the West End show, Wicked, including a chance to meet the cast afterwards, £50 of book vouchers and a master class in writing from a published writer.
Councillor Patricia Walker, cabinet member for Children and Young People, said: “I am so proud of Tariq and his outstanding achievements. He is obviously very talented and I am pleased that we were able to nurture that talent through our Super Heros sessions at the Horizon’s Centre.”
Tariq said: "It was a huge thrill to win the award and I am shocked and very surprised. I always thought I couldn't write, but taking part in the writing project at Horizons showed me that I could have a voice too. I'm going to carry on writing and reading and I want to enter more competitions in the future."
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Tired All Day by Tariq Williams, 13
Tiredness is an old person.
He goes around saying “I am going to die”
and he’s always slurping soup.
He bites the spoon.
Tiredness is a crafty spiv.
His second name is ‘Yawn.’
He lives in a bungalow.
He’s too old, tired and lazy
to care for a pet. He can barely care for himself.
When Tiredness was young, he looked like a dinosaur.
Now he looks like a Pterodactyl.
He used to sell frogs in a pet shop,
then he quit that job
and worked for ‘Horizon’
then he quit that job
because of boredom
then he turned into a drug addict
and then he turned into an old man.
Suddenly
he had a heart attack and
the hospital tried to save him
but he was already gone.
14th December 2011
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