Andrew Clark, 13, a pupil at Gourock High School entered a prestigious writing contest and came out a winner.

The Pushkin Prizes is a contest for young people in Scotland and at English-speaking schools in St Petersburg, Russia.

There are hundreds of entries every year and each entrant submits three pieces of their work. Andrew, from Gourock, entered the competition with two poems and a short story.

The Pushkin Prizes is open to first and second-year pupils and from the entries 10 Scottish winners and two Russians were chosen.

Andrew's prize was a week-long creative writing course at the Moniack Mhor centre in Inverness-shire. It is the Arvon Foundation Writers' Centre and is a chance for the pupils to work with each other and with professional writers.

Andrew spent a week there and received lessons from Diana Hendry, a poet and writer and Gerry Cambridge, also a poet.

Andrew said: "It was really good and it has helped me improve my writing."

One of Andrew's poems was about nomads in the desert and the other about the effects of a stroke. His short story was about clan rivalries in the Highlands.

Andrew's teacher, Jan Wilson, said: "There were a few entries from here for the Pushkin Prizes. Andrew did really well and we are proud of him.

“He is a very keen writer so he was very motivated to enter the competition."

The winners of the Pushkin Prizes were presented with their certificates and their prizes in Edinburgh. The Pushkin Prizes is a competition that has been running since the late 1980s and was set up by Lady Butter, the great great great granddaughter of Alexander Sergei Pushkin, the famous Russian writer and folklorist.

News source: greenocktelegraph.co.uk
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