Faraway Competition - First Prize Winners 7-9 age group

Faraway Village of Take It by Tahmeed Alam
1st Prize Short Story

One hot summer day a group of friends called George, Quentin and François were lying in the sun eating delicious cooked marshmallows near a camp in the middle of the freaky woods. They loved camping in the summer holiday. 
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François suddenly spotted something strange in a very thick tree.  “Hey guys! There’s a hole in the tree!” 
The others immediately turned around and yes, there was an enormous hole in the tree! “Yeah, so what are you waiting for? Grab a ladder and get up that thing!” cried George.
    
So they got a small ladder and climbed up the old tree. As soon  as  the  three boys  stuck  their  small  heads  in, they  were sucked  in.... An air vacuum had sucked in the boys. “What is happening, can you tell me? I think I’m going to die,” cried Quentin. François was more frightened.

After what seemed like ages, the boys finally popped out of the tree into a strange land! “Wow, this is very far away from home! I cannot even see our camp! It must be millions of miles away from our world!”  
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“Hey guys instead of chatting be quiet and let’s explore this place!” said Quent.  So, like he said, Quentin, his brother, and his best friend went exploring this new faraway place. The boys found a gigantic sign which said: ‘WELCOME TO THE FARAWAY VILLAGE OF TAKE IT.’ 

Everything in this village was similar to Earth but bigger and brighter and stronger. The toys here were to die for, beyond any kids’ imagination. “Hey!  You think we could take all the things we want?” “Well, how can we take everything? It’s way too many things” said Quent. Just then they saw a machine labelled ‘SHRINK IT.’ In no time, all the things were made tiny with the machine and fit into a single backpack. “Let’s go!” said George. So they did.

They jumped into the hole, and flew back to camp. They were very excited about their treasure and they couldn’t wait to go home. 

As they were leaving they heard a loud booming voice, “Greetings! Some greedy people have taken everything at once from the ‘Village of Take it’ and so it will no longer exist, xist, ist!!” it echoed. “To save this place, they must send back their most favourite thing to ‘Take it’!”
      
“Oh no! That means I have to give that model sword from the Battle of Britain!” wailed Quent “And I need to give my PlayStation5!” interrupted George. “And I need to give my ‘The Village’ Lego Minecraft Set!” said François. It was a mistake to be so greedy!
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As soon as the boys came back to their camp, they rushed home, got their favourite things, and travelled back to the faraway land of ‘Take It.’ One by one, they placed their favourite items in the centre of the village. Then the kids went back down the big hole. They had saved ‘Take It’ and learned an important lesson about greediness.

Far Away by Angeline Maligat
​1st Prize Illustration

Faraway by Laura Hoch
1st Prize Poem

These entries were awarded prizes in the Faraway Competition 2016. They will be published in the upcoming Faraway Anthology alongside other award-winning and highly commended entries, and comments from the judges.
More award-winning entries will be shared on the Creative Write-it blog in the coming weeks.
All prize winners have been awarded vouchers which can be used towards any Creative Write-it program, including our online writing mentorships for 'faraway' writers.