Chester Queen’s School girl’s history prize

Jul 28 2010 by Jo Henwood, Chester Chronicle

A QUEEN’S School girl has won a prize for rewriting history.

Scarlett Banfield won first prize in the Historical Association’s annual historical fiction writing competition for her story ‘Souviens-Toi’, an account of the Second World War massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane.

The Year 8 pupil, who lives in Abergele, won a cash prize and a Bath Aqua Blue glass paperweight.

Year 7 pupil Louisa Cowell, of Chester, was short-listed by the judges and highly commended for her fictional account of slavery in Guadeloupe, entitled ‘The Checker Board.’

The competition attracted entries from more than 70 schools across the UK and from Holland, Cyprus and Japan.

Both girls were presented with a certificate and the school wins a year's free subscription to the Historical Association.

Historical Association judge Dave Martin commented about the entries: “They knew their period well then they wrote stories that were enjoyable to read.”