The great-granddaughter of a celebrated Manx novelist has awarded prizes to the story-tellers of the future. Gloria Rukeyser presented the prizes today (Friday) at the end of the inaugural Hall Caine Memorial Prize for Creative Writing. At the competition’s launch last summer, students were invited to pen a short story, memoir, one-act play or opening chapter of a novel on the subject of ‘memories’. The competition attracted nearly 300 entries. Gloria Rukeyser, who, like her famous ancestor, is a writer and journalist and whose family still occupies the novelist’s former home, historic Greeba Castle, told winners assembled at the Manx Museum: ‘I've read all of your entries and I am enormously impressed by the wide range, the equal parts of vivid imagination and sheer hard work, the quality and the simple power of your writing. You show that you already understand the fundamentals of good story-telling – that things have to happen, dialogue has to sound realistic, your readers have to really care about your characters and what becomes of them. I found your stories absorbing, always interesting and often deeply moving. I am so proud of every one of you.’ Entries were invited in three categories: Primary, Key Stages 3 and 4 and Key Stage 5/IoM College, with cash prizes for the top three students and ?20 book tokens for those highly commended. Eve McGregor, 11, won the Primary category’s first prize of ?100 with the opening chapter of a novel in which a teenager relives memories of a dreadful accident that nearly claimed her life. The Rushen School pupil – who is the reigning Young Singer of Mann – said: ‘I have been writing since an extremely young age. My bedroom is full of loads of my old stories. When this competition came along I just had to enter because I haven't been in a writing competition since winning the Year 2 category of Isle of Man Newspapers’ Junior Journalist of the Year in 2007.’ Isalen Cooper, who is educated at home at Garey, won the first prize in the Key Stage 3 and 4 category, which attracted nearly 200 entries, with a futuristic story, told from one little girl’s perspective, about the UK’s efforts to strip the Island of its natural resources. ‘I enjoy writing but have never entered a competition before so when a friend of my mum’s told me about it I thought I would give it a go,’ the 12-year-old said. ‘I enjoyed doing my research, which included watching DVDs about children’s experiences of the two World Wars and reading about modern-day environmental issues. I am honoured to win first prize and it has definitely boosted my confidence as a writer and encouraged me to write more stories.’ Katie Craig, 17, from St Ninian’s High School, who is heading to university to study English literature, won first prize of ?150 in the oldest age group with her deeply moving entry, about an old soldier living out the end of his days in a nursing home. She said: ‘The entry was inspired by how war veterans and the elderly in general are treated by our society – ignored, put in homes away from their families, sometimes patronised and expected to be passive. These people so often have amazing stories to tell but nobody will listen. ‘I also read a book of war poetry from World War One before writing my entry and it seemed that, for the soldiers, the war was an incredibly vivid defining point in their lives and I wanted to write about what happens long after this defining point has passed and memories begin to fade.’ The judges, who saw only the entries and not the author’s names/schools, were: Primary – Headteachers Jill Gill (Ballacloan Infants) and Richard Clark (Ballaugh Primary); Key Stages 3 and 4 – Rosemary Cooil, an English lecturer at the Isle of Man College, and James Aldridge, assistant Head of English at St Ninian’s High School; Key Stage 5/Isle of Man College – Rachel Withington, Head of English at St Ninian’s High School, and Usha Kishore, Key Stage 5 Co-ordinator for English at Queen Elizabeth II High School. They scored the entries on strong characterisation, good narrative flow and imaginative story-telling. Today’s presentation was attended by Eddie Teare MHK, Minister for Education and Children, who thanked Mrs Rukeyser, and by Department Members Dudley Butt MLC and David Quirk MHK and Chief Executive Officer Stuart Dobson. The competition, which Mrs Rukeyser kindly sponsors, will be held annually and is open to all students who are in education in the Isle of Man. The next theme will be announced in the summer. Full list of prize-winners: Primary Key Stages 3 and 4 Key Stage 5 and IoM College 1st: Eve McGregor, Rushen, ?100 1st: Isalen Cooper, ?150 1st: Katie Craig, St Ninian’s, ?150 2nd: Jessica Brennan, Victoria Road, ?75 2nd: Ellen Wiltshire, SNHS, ?100 2nd = Kerry Hudson, St Ninian’s, ?100 Caitriona Cox, King William’s College, ?100 3rd: Madeleine Couch, Rushen, ?50 3rd: Meggen McCann, QEII, ?50 3rd: Heather Booth, Castle Rushen ?50 Highly commended Molly Gibson, Buchan Abigail Georgina Forrest, Murray’s Road Laura Cooil, Victoria Road Daniel Radcliffe, Ballaugh Roman Trimble, Marown Thomas William Curphey, Marown Zoe Tweedy, QEII Bronte Wright, CRHS Kim McKay, SNHS Alex Eaton, QEII Rachel Frankwick, CRHS Kathryn Jennings, CRHS Dolyn Kiefer, CRHS Niamh Merritt, CRHS Clare Harris, CRHS Kyra Lee Morphet, RGS Bridget Bale, QEII Katy Myers, SNHS Honor Jude, SNHS Freddy Whittle, SNHS Ariane Monds, SNHS Fynn Shimmin, SNHS Alison Ogden, SNHS Xander Stoffberg, SNHS Danu Manners-Armstrong, SNHS Sean Mills, Isle of Man College Elisha Brown, Castle Rushen Faye Devlin, St Ninian’s Serena Luff, St Ninian’s Alexander Bell, St Ninian’s Ends