"And then he opened the box..."
We were delighted by the creativity, effort and storytelling skills demonstrated by all entrants. The standard of writing was exceptionally high, making the judging process incredibly difficult.
🥇 Congratulations to Emily, who was named our overall winner! Her imaginative story captured the judges' attention with its engaging narrative, vivid descriptions and thoughtful moral message.
We would also like to congratulate our runners-up:
🥈 2nd Place - Mia (Year 11)
🥉 3rd Place - Daniel (Year 10)
Emily's winning story will be shared with students across the school, with all form groups hearing the story read by their form tutors.
Winning Entry
And then he opened the box…
By Emily
The box was dull and grey and covered in dust - untouched for decades. Its lid moaned loudly and dust flew into the air, making him sneeze. Inside, there was a deep emerald, glowing bottle labelled in beautiful handwriting: ‘Teleportation potion, drink wisely!’
He wondered if it actually contained magic. Ignoring the safety instruction, he hurriedly chugged the sparkling green liquid down and, impatiently, he waited.
But nothing happened.
And then... something caught his eye.
There was a whir and a click and suddenly a shiny, smooth, emerald surface spread across the bottom of the box. It wasn’t a normal green: it somehow seemed alive and popped right out at him, inviting his touch. The boy wondered whether it was a trick or a trap or maybe a portal to another dimension with riches beyond his wildest dreams.
Greed overcame him. Without a second thought, he tapped the bottom of the box with his pinky and the box sucked him in in the blink of an eye.
He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in some sort of green, glowing tube and was travelling at such a pace he felt sick. Through the hazy green glass he could see the Earth behind him, fading into the distance. It looked like a tiny blue marble that was shrinking rapidly until it disappeared from sight.
Where was this tunnel taking him? He searched frantically for clues. Then he noticed he was surrounded by images of his past actions, errors of greed that he’d never corrected. He saw himself answering back to his mum, nagging his friend for something he wanted, snatching toys from his little brother and refusing to give things back that weren’t his. These and dozens more memories flooded his vision until they became a blur.
The boy knew he was often motivated by greed and selfishness. He sometimes felt bad about it… but this time was different.
This time he could feel the sadness and frustration of the people he’d been mean to. It was so overwhelming he could not think straight. The images increased in size and volume. Desperately, he covered his ears but he could still hear and see them, getting so huge and deafening that he couldn’t bear it.
Overcome with these emotions, he burst out crying. He sobbed and whispered, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise I was hurting people. I promise to stop being so horrible!”
As soon as he had finished his sentence, his journey through the emerald tube suddenly stopped. In an instant, he sped back to Earth faster than lightning.
Just as he was about to vomit, he landed back in his attic. He had learnt his lesson.
The next day he was kind to everyone, and everyone was pleasantly surprised. He realised they were no longer avoiding him. He felt joyous.
His lesson was simple and one he would never forget: always treat people how you want to be treated yourself.
A huge well done to Emily, Mia and Daniel for their fantastic achievements, and thank you to everyone who entered the competition. We look forward to celebrating more of our students' creative talents in future writing competitions. 📚✨✍️