News release
2 February 2016
- Iris Ferrar from Alleyn’s Junior School in South East London has been crowned as one of the two London winners of Royal Mail’s Young Letter Writer of the Year Competition
- Iris has won £200 in vouchers for herself and £200 for her school
- Iris, aged nine, has won in the under 11s age group and will now go through to the UK-wide final stage of the competition as one of 24 national finalists
- Iris’s winning letter was one of almost 100,000 entries received by Royal Mail from children aged 4-14 years-old across the UK in response to the question: ‘What is your dream job?’
- Entries were received from one in five (18.8%) secondary schools and one if five (22.6%) primary schools
A schoolgirl from Alleyn’s Junior School in South East London has been named as London’s winner of Royal Mail’s Young Letter Writer of the Year Competition. Iris Ferrar, aged nine, won the under 11s age group and wins £200 in vouchers for both herself and her school.
Iris’s entry, which was one of almost 100,000 submissions from children aged 4-14 years old, will now go through to the final stage of the competition where it will compete as one of 24 regional winners for the UK-wide crown. Entries were received from one in five (18.8%) secondary schools and one in five (22.6%) primary schools. Children were asked to write a letter in response to the question: ‘What is your dream job?’
Iris wrote that her dream job was to become an animal language decoder – able to learn their languages through a special robot that she would invent that would even be able to hear animal sounds that may not be audible to human ears. From this robot, she would learn to speak to the animals, just like the fictional character Dr Dolittle, who inspired her when she was younger.
The judges for the London region included:
- Caroline Wright – Director General Designate of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA)
- Claire Spreadbury – Head of Features at the Press Association news agency
- Tony Fox – Royal Mail’s Operational Director for the East region (which includes London and the South East)
The judges considered Iris’s entry to be very imaginative, well-written, humorous and clearly structured as a job application letter.
Caroline Wright said: “Congratulations to Iris on her winning letter. This was a wonderful entry, well-written with neat handwriting and a clear attention to detail. It is a very worthy winner and I hope one day in the future she gets her dream job!”
London’s other winner, in the 11-14 age group, was Maxwell Fullerton, aged 12, from Vyners School, Ickenham in Uxbridge.
The submissions were assessed by a panel of regional judges on a range of criteria, including: correct letter layout and word count; good use of vocabulary; accurate grammar and well-constructed sentences; correct punctuation; strong and engaging content with originality and a compulsion to ‘read on’.
ENDS
Media Enquiries
Sally Hopkins
Royal Mail press office
Tel: 020 3338 1007 or 020 7449 8252
Note to editors
- Royal Mail has received 97,355 entries from school aged children up to 14-years old from across the UK in response to the question: ‘What is your dream job?’
- The national final will be judged by popular TV Presenter Helen Skelton; Royal Mail’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Moya Greene; former Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen and Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust.
- There are two age groups – Group A Under 11s and Group B 11-14
- The 12 competition counties and regions are:
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland
- London
- South East
- East of England
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- North East
- North West
- South West
- Yorkshire and Humberside
*Prizes breakdown:
Prizes: a) The Regional finalists will receive £40 in high street vouchers and £40 will be awarded to their schools. b) The Regional Winners will receive £200 in high street vouchers and £200 will be awarded to their schools. c) The final two winners additionally will receive £800 in high-street vouchers and £800 will also be awarded to their schools.
Prizes | Schools | Child |
Overall winners x2 | £800 | £800 vouchers |
Regional winners x24 | £200 | £200 vouchers |
Regional Finalists x96 | £40 | £40 vouchers |
JUDGING CRITERIA:
To reach the final shortlist, judges have taken the following into consideration:
- Where possible, we encourage the letters to be handwritten, legible and neat
- Correct letter layout and word count
- It is a letter written to someone or a body of people
- An overriding presence of the letter style
- Good use of vocabulary; accurate grammar and well-constructed sentences; correct punctuation all relative to age
- Strong and engaging content with originality relative to age
- A compulsion to read on
- A clear and supported “argument” that develops and reaches a powerful conclusion
- Where the entry is hand-written that it is legible and neat
- Overall good use of paragraphing
- Where the entrant has used humour, it is relevant and supports the overall mood and tone of the competition
The first Royal Mail Young Letter Writers Competition was launched 39 years ago. The competition aims to engage school-aged children in letter writing and help improve their literacy.
