A YOUNGSTER from Hook has won a national writing competition, after speaking out about violence against women.

Fourteen-year-old Phoebe Harris was the South East winner of the Pearson’s My Twist on a Tale: Our Tomorrow writing competition.

As one of the winners her futuristic poem, based on the safety of women, and the need for new laws, has been published in a brand-new book.

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In autumn 2021, learning company Pearson empowered children and young people between the ages of four to 19 to put pen to paper and write their own stories and poems about the future, they would then compiling the winning entries in the brand-new book.

Scooping the award in the South East category, Phoebe’s work, A Twist in the Tale, was chosen alongside 16 other stories and poems written by children across the country.

She said: “I was delighted to be selected as a winner. Speaking out and stopping violence against women is something I have been passionate about for a very long time. I believe more people should be aware and de-normalise it.

“My character fails to question such attitudes, and this portrays society’s indifference. I chose poetry as poems are often short and choppy, and someone’s life can be changed dramatically in an instant if they suffer such abuse. Poetry seemed the best way to convey that.”

Phoebe’s poem is set in 2051 where a young girl and her mother discuss the need for her to tie up her hair. Not one to ask why, or why she should never walk alone at night, or why there is a stash of passports in various cupboards in the house, the girl plaits her hair and goes for a run. Ending up alone in an unfamiliar place, she is approached by a knife-wielding man with a sinister smile.

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Phoebe hopes the moral of her poem is that not every girl will or should tie their hair - and unless there is change threats against girls will continue to happen decades on from now.

Lindsay Nadin, director of Primary at Pearson, added: ‘Phoebe should be extremely proud of the poem she has written. Her creativity and writing skills make her a worthy winner, alongside the 16 other young authors whose stories and poems ranged from earthlings zipping around on hoverboards, to the need for new laws to keep people safe.”

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