Contents
In May 2024, Atom Learning launched the third annual Young Author Award to celebrate the UK’s newest young writers.
Children aged 7–11 were challenged to write a creative response to the theme ‘What’s that noise?’ For the last couple of weeks, a team of education specialists at Atom Learning have been carefully reading and judging over 500 entries. Our judges were looking for entries that demonstrated:
Quality of writing and story structure
Creativity, ingenuity and imagination
Use of language and grammatical accuracy
The writer’s ability to engage the reader
Winner of the Young Author Award 2024: Jodie
We are delighted to announce that Jodie A. has won the Atom Learning Young Author Award 2024 with her poignant tale of memory from the point of view of a grandfather clock.
Watch the moment Jodie found out she had won the Young Author Award 2024:
The judging team said that this entry was “so original and heartwarming” and “it reminded us of Disney’s Encanto – it felt like the home was its own character”. The judges said that the quote ‘silent as the untouched snow’ was an amazing figurative start to the story, and they were struck by the line: ‘In its glow, John saw not the current time, but times long past—moments of joy and sorrow that the house had witnessed. He realized then that the noise wasn’t just a disturbance, but the heartbeat of the house, a living record of its history.’ One judge commented that she particularly enjoyed the description of the father as a ‘man of logic and reason’ as it reminded her of her own father.
Read Jodie’s full entry below.
In the quaint village of Whistler's Grove, where the nights were as silent as the untouched snow, the Smith family had just settled into their new home, an old Victorian manor that stood at the edge of the woods. The house, with its creaky floors and drafty halls, had been empty for years, and the villagers often whispered about the strange occurrences that befell its previous occupants.
On their first night, as the Smiths gathered around the fireplace, a peculiar noise pierced the silence. It was a soft, rhythmic tapping, like the beat of a heart coming from the walls. "What's that noise?" young Timmy asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.
His father, John, a man of logic and reason, assured him it was just the house settling in. But as the nights passed, the noise grew louder and more persistent. It seemed to follow them from room to room, never allowing a moment of peace.
Determined to uncover the source, John ventured into the attic one evening. The noise was deafening here, and amidst the dust-covered relics and forgotten memories, he found an old grandfather clock, its pendulum swinging with vigor, though no one had wound it in years.
As he approached, the noise ceased abruptly, and the clock's face flickered with a ghostly light. In its glow, John saw not the current time, but times long past—moments of joy and sorrow that the house had witnessed. He realized then that the noise wasn't just a disturbance, but the heartbeat of the house, a living record of its history.
The next day, the Smiths decided to embrace the noise, to become a part of the house's ongoing story. They filled the rooms with laughter and music, and soon, the tapping became a comforting reminder that they were not alone, that the house was alive with the echoes of all who had called it home.
And so, Whistler's Grove had a new tale to tell, of the family who made peace with the noise, the heartbeat of their home.
Runners-up
This year, 10 children were selected as runners-up. Congratulations to all of our runners-up for their fantastic submissions!
Zoya G.
Ezra C.
Boluwatife A.
Phoebe S.
Zeeshan W.
Anastasia A.
Austin C.
Annabel J.
Eliza W.
Selin B.
Congratulations to our winner and runners-up, and well done to all the young writers who entered the Atom Learning Young Author Award 2024!
Contents