Young Wild Writer Competition 2022
A huge thank you to all the brilliant young writers who entered the Hen Harrier Action 2022 competition. The theme this year was Animal Journeys, and we had many wonderful entries, from ants to peregrines and snakes and swallows. The standard of writing was very high and it’s fantastic to see these writers of the future emerging with such confident voices.
As ever it was hard to judge, but three winners emerged in each category:

Junior Category: 9-12 years
Winner – Henry Gill - Age 11
We Run
The judges loved Henry’s piece of writing about wolves. Henry effectively uses all the wolfs’ senses to help us imagine what it is to be a wolf and understand the threats they face from humans. The short sentence structure built the tension, as we ran with the wolves, stopping and listening, stopping and watching.
Writing that helps us build empathy with animals helps to change the narrative around
animals, especially those, like wolves, that have been demonised in literature.
Hen Harrier Action was delighted that Emily could join us at the Wild Justice Hen Harrier Fest on the 24th August, and read her prose on the stage – to great applause.
Emily is certainly a writer to watch for the future. You can find more about her, and her writing here – Twitter @em_nature. And blog https://emilyjanehunt.wixsite.com/natureblog