Sixth Form Student Vivienne Hall (Year 13) is one of five young writers shortlisted for the BBC’s Young Writers’ Award this year. 2024 was the tenth year of the competition, which is a collaboration between BBC Radio 4 and Radio 1. Since it is open nationally to all writers between the ages of 14 and 18, it is a fantastic achievement that Vivienne was selected one of the final five.
Her short story ‘Confession’ was described as follows on the BBC website:
This dark, gothic story, told with a ‘sense of foreboding’ from the viewpoint of a priest with a skewed sense of justice who selects a vulnerable visitor to his church to be the ultimate sacrifice, explores themes of faith, trust and exploitation. Inspired by the idea that trusted authority figures may not be all they seem to be.
Listen to ‘Confession’ on BBC Sounds
Vivienne wrote the story during a Creative Writing Course run through the Sixth Form Curriculum Enrichment Programme (CEP), which encouraged all of those taking part to write a piece to enter the Young Writers’ Award.
Speaking about her inspiration, Vivienne said:
‘I wanted to write a story that showed how even people in power can be corrupt, and how sometimes religion can be used as a justification for these actions or can be interpreted in a way that can be harmful. I also wanted to show the difference between appearances, in this case a respectable member of the church, and the reality, a psychotic killer, and show that sometimes there is more to someone that meets the eye. I also like imagining the ways other people think and breaking that down into a narrative that illustrates such.’
Vivienne is currently studying maths, further maths and economics at A Level, and hopes to study PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at university. However, since completing the writing course, she has started to think about perhaps pursuing writing on the side. She also said:
‘The teachers have always managed to make any subject enjoyable and interesting. I feel as if the school instils in its’ students a curious nature, and a desire to do well and pursue new opportunities. This led me to pursue writing outside of my academics, even though it isn’t an area that I study within the school curriculum.
‘My advice to any other aspiring writers is that you definitely do not need to study English, or have to be a really big reader to be a good writer. You shouldn’t pigeonhole yourself into one thing just because you think you won’t be good at other things, as you don’t know until you try. You might find out that you actually do have a talent you didn’t know about.’
