Year 13 student Koyenum was one of two runners-up in the English & Media Centre's emagazine Close Reading Competition, in which students are asked to write a critical appreciation of a literary passage. Students from all over the UK enter this competition, which was judged by Tom Gatti, culture editor of The Observer. You can read Koyenum's entry here, including the judge's comment on her work: "This entry earns its runner-up place with an impressive clarity of thought and expression. It tracks the various tensions and contradictions in the extract, and rather than attempting to explain or unpick them, shows how they give the opening a compelling air of mystery. A thorough and thoughtful essay."

Meanwhile, Year 10 student Eshaal was one of six winners of the Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, a creative writing competition which receives hundreds of entries each year. The prompt this year's competition, set by author Margaret McDonald, was to write about a person or place you know well, and  the judges said of Eshaal's poem Same Face, Same Name: “This felt so distinct and evocative in terms of setting. We loved your clever structure and the way you moved us between the past and the present.” The results were announced at an awards ceremony in London which Mr Dilley, Subject Leader of English, was able to attend. The chair of judges, publisher Ruth Knowles, referred to the winners as incredible, talented young writers whose books we will definitely have on our shelves in the future! You can read all the winning entries, including Eshaal's, here

Many congratulations to Koyenum and Eshaal on your magnificent achievements!