Winners of a writing competition about farming have been named.

Melplash Agricultural Society's Discover Farming 500 writing competition saw primary schools take part in the competition, which asked pupils to produce an original piece of non-fiction writing that was connected to food and farming.

The two best schools were St Mary’s Church of England Primary School in Bridport, which took the top prize, and Symondsbury Church of England Primary School was named as runner up.

The overall winning school received a certificate and cheque for £500 and the runner-up a cheque for £250.

The prizes for St Mary’s, Bridport and Symondsbury School and their pupils were presented at the schools' assemblies. 

Bridport and Lyme Regis News: Symondsbury school receiving their prizesSymondsbury school receiving their prizes (Image: Symondsbury Primary School)

Discover Farming education co-ordinator, Katie Vining, said: “We congratulate all of the schools and pupils that entered.   

"The aim of the competition was to produce a piece of non-fiction writing that would get children thinking about the importance of food and farming, it has certainly succeeded in doing that.   

"We had some excellent entries.  The judges were very impressed with the standard and the thought and effort that went into all the work.  

"We thank the judges for their support and generous time given, and Chester Harcourt for kindly sponsoring the competition. We look forward to running the competition again in 2024.”  

The competition was split into categories with a total of seven schools submitting entries from June to November 2023.

Here is a full list of winners:

Year 5

  • Winner:              Franklin Laszlo-Bushrod, Symondsbury
  • Runner-up         Edward Keen, Salway Ash

Year 3 & 4

  • Winner:              Joe Cox, St Mary’s School, Bridport
  • Runner-up:        Harry Rhodes, St Mary’s School, Bridport

Year 1 & 2

  • Winner Theo Cox, St Mary’s School, Bridport
  • Runner-up Max Benyon, Greenford, Maiden Newton

Reception

  • Joseph Dare, Symondsbury 

The winners of each category were awarded with a certificate and book voucher from Bridport Book Shop for £30 and the runners-up a certificate and a book voucher for £20. 

The judges for the competition were the Melplash Agricultural Society president, Michael Fooks and his wife Pam, and Gemma Harvey from the National Farmers Union (NFU).