Young writers competition?!

[PumpkinKlNG]

Has anyone else’s child won a “young writers competition” ? I was so proud and excited at first I even bought the book, but it was only after the book arrived I started to become suspicious as my son recognised a few of the poems in the book from school saying he had already heard the poems (so they obviously weren’t made up by the children) I also noticed that some schools had 10+ children “winning” (my sons school only had him and one other) I’ve googled it and it seems to be a well known scam (obviously not by me!) why on earth are schools allowing this 😕 feeling pretty stupid for being fooled. I’ve been so proud and telling several family members that my child was selected now I’m going to feel stupid telling them it was a scam.

I think scam is a bit strong but yes, lots of kids ‘win’. Both my kids won. I think one won a few times. What are the chances. 🤣

Posted too soon.

Try not to let it bother you. The book a nice keepsake.

I just feel silly now as I said to family that my son was chosen out of loads of kids now if they google it they will see it’s a load of rubbish, I trusted it being from the school but really should have googled it myself!

It's an underhand way of flogging the book, so, yes, a scam. You've essentially paid over the odds to see your child's poem in print. But it's done now - you don't need to explain any further to your family members. If your son is happy to see his poem in print and it motivates him to further creative writing efforts, it may turn out to be a good thing.

Most people who enter "win" dont they? Its a chance to see your child's work in print...

I just feel silly now as I said to family that my son was chosen out of loads of kids now if they google it they will see it’s a load of rubbish, I trusted it being from the school but really should have googled it myself!

Don’t feel silly, your son got picked. Not every child wins and your son was only one of two children from his school. It’s an achievement. I’m sure your family will be proud and they’d be very unkind to say anything but ‘well done’ to him.

2 have “won” from his school him and one other but other schools seem to have much higher numbers of “winners” another reason why I got suspicious, but mainly because he was reading the book and said he had heard other children’s poems before

he had heard other children’s poems before

I’m not sure what to think of that. My kids definitely wrote theirs themselves. They worked on them at home as there wasn’t time in school.

When my daughter won last year, she was one of about 10 from her year. She knows that at least 2 classes entered so 60 kids and maybe other classes did too.
Be proud of your son, keep the book, it’ll be nice when he’s older.

Ive still got mine from school and there were loads from our year. I dont think the school put them all forwards but it appears that what the school put forwards get published on the whole.

The whole thing is to get parents to buy the book. Noone else does! A bit like school photos....

But I'm still glad I have mine and was so proud at the time 😁

he said one he had heard in a phonics song in school he said he already knows that rhyme as they teach it in school 😕 and mentioned another one being something he heard on YouTube

he said one he had heard in a phonics song in school he said he already knows that rhyme as they teach it in school 😕 and mentioned another one being something he heard on YouTube

Get him to show you the one on YouTube. You could query with the company or school if you feel strongly about it. Personally I’d just leave it but it’s entirely up to you.

If you google "Young Writers" there are some quite prescriptive lesson plans. It may be that many of them had the same stimulus to base their writing on. Or that they haven't picked up plagiarism- which would be bad/unusual.

I found this from their website, "With the teacher resources we offer, it does mean pupils have a realistic chance of seeing their work in print."

So if a teacher follows the prescriptive lesson plan and kids follow the prompts, don't write anything obscene etc they should get in.

I was on a thread on this about 5 years ago, possibly further back. All 60 children in my child's year 'won'. Definitely a scam. I was even more cross that they got the children to fill out all their data - name, address, d.o.b - to send to a third party without any express permission.

The school get a commission iirc.

Schools do not get a commission...

This has been going on for years! Wouldn’t worry about it though. I remember my dad being so proud when my niece ‘won’. There was no point bursting their bubble. Your family probably won’t ever find out so just enjoy the moment.