On Saturday night, instead of sinking 10 pints down the Vani, which would have been the thing to do once upon a time, when we were young… see what I did there? I spent the evening listening to young people tell us stories and read poems and not just any old stories & poems… THEIR stories & poems as part of Windsor Festival.
Organised by Windsor Writers Group as explained by Mike below, the opening curtain saw Windsor Writers Group Chair, Vanessa Gordon, talking story telling, inspirations, writing process and more with Elaine Hastings who took 10 years to write her first book! She shared some insight into the process and this key tip…
I was delighted to be asked to be the guest author at the awards and to share a little about my debut novel When We Were Young and my own writing journey. In the weeks leading up to the event, I spent some time thinking about the advice I’d like to give to young writers. One idea stood out clearly: the value of boredom.
These days, it’s easy to fill every quiet moment with a phone – scrolling, messaging, or watching something. But those small pockets of stillness are often where creativity begins. When we allow ourselves to be bored, to look out of a window or walk without headphones, our minds start to wander, and stories take shape. It can feel uncomfortable at first, but that space is where inspiration often strikes. And it’s not just young writers who need it – all of us could use more room for our imaginations to breathe.
I also reminded the young writers to hold on to this moment. Writing can be solitary, and recognition like this is special. Their work has already been celebrated – now it’s about nurturing that gift and keeping the words flowing.
Elaine Hastings, Author When We Were Young
The presentation of awards for the shortlisted submissions to the Young Writers Competition 2025 took place on Saturday 11th October at The Old Court. The evening was very well attended and the standard of entries extremely impressive. We had twenty-four prizes to award to twenty-two prizewinners, who were accompanied by their friends and family. We were honoured to have with us the Mayor of Windsor & Maidenhead, Cllr Mandy Brar; and the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, Mr Joshua Reynolds; and two of our sponsors’ representatives, Mr Andrew Try, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, representing the Prince Philip Trust Fund, and Mr Jon Davey representing Tesco. The event was also sponsored by Legoland and Chiltern Bookshops.
Guest Author Elaine Hastings (When We Were Young) presented the prizes and talked about her experiences as a writer, offering suggestions and encouragement to the young writers, during a conversation session with Vanessa Gordon, Chairman of Windsor Writers (The Naxos Mysteries). After that Elaine and the available sponsors presented the prizes and certificates to the successful young writers, after which the audience heard the winning stories and poems read aloud. All the finalists are to be warmly congratulated.
The competition was open to young writers from Year 6 up to the age of 18 on 31.8.2025 who live, work or go to school/college in RBWM. They could enter one short story of up to 500 words and/or one poem of up to 30 lines. Prizes awarded were:
– First prize – Legoland voucher (youngest group), otherwise £75 book token
– Second prize – Legoland voucher (youngest group story award), otherwise £30 book token
– Highly Commended – £15 book token
– Commended – £10 book token
Mike Moss, Secretary, Windsor Writers Group
It was a delight to attend the Windsor Writers Group awards for Young Writers at the old Court on Saturday evening. As the representative of the Prince Philip Trust who provide part of the funding for the awards it was great to see how many young people entered the awards and the quality and caliber of the short stories and poems chosen as winners. As a community seeking to encourage and engage its young people to open and explore the world or creativity and imagination this competition is a fantastic platform to showcase what’s possible.
Andrew Try, Lord-Lieutenant Berkshire, Trustee of The Prince Philip Trust Fund
Elaine talking about boredom being good for the brain rang bells with me, as an intermittent faster, not eating 24/7 gives the body chance to focus on repair rather than just turning me in to fat 😉
Nice long walks by the river, quill in hand, is order of the day and don’t take your mobile phone or marmalade sandwiches, enjoy a nice salad instead… obviously if you are over 18 and it’s a non fasting day, take champagne to fuel the creative musings…
Thank you.
Jon
Community Champion
