Letter writer is regional finalist in Royal Mail competition

January 19, 2016

annie1Nine-year-old Annie, a pupil at Inglefield House, is one of 10 children in the regional Wales final of Royal Mail’s Young Letter Writer of the Year competition, thanks to her sincere piece about becoming a primary school teacher.

Annie’s entry about her future career path has been shortlisted to go through to the next stage of the competition, where local judges will select their top two letters to represent Wales in the national final.

There were 3,000 letters sent in from schoolchildren up to the age of 14 across Wales in response to the question ‘what is your dream job?’.

In her entry, Annie wrote: “Young children are very enthusiastic and want to learn, which is why this is such a rewarding career.”

Judges said her letter was from an earnest young child, displaying wisdom beyond her years.

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The competition received 97,355 entries in total from across the UK, the highest since 2000. Letters were received from 18.8% of all secondary schools and 22.6% of all primary schools.

TV presenter, Helen Skelton, will be part of the national panel of judges, also including former Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust and Royal Mail Group Chief Executive Officer, Moya Greene, who will select the two winning letters – one in the under 11 category and one in the 11 – 14 group.

Annie has won £40 in vouchers and £40 for Inglefield House, and could win £1,000 for herself and £1,000 for the School if she is victorious in the national final.

Helen Skelton said: “The number of entries we have received is phenomenal. I’m looking forward to reading the letters that make it through to the final so I can see exactly what dream jobs children would love to do.”

And Stephen Agar, Managing Director of Consumer Network Access at Royal Mail, added: “We’ve seen a fantastic response to the competition, with almost 100,000 entries. It shows that children are still excited at the thought of writing letters and expressing themselves by putting pen to paper.”