Young writers burn off their rivals to win top award

Novice authors at a Burnley high school were on fire in a national competition.
Students from Blessed Trinity with their Jewson Health and Safety Award for their book Hazardous Harry.Students from Blessed Trinity with their Jewson Health and Safety Award for their book Hazardous Harry.
Students from Blessed Trinity with their Jewson Health and Safety Award for their book Hazardous Harry.

Students from Blessed Trinity RC College won the Jewson Health and Safety Award at the Community Education Awards 2017, beating off almost 500 other schools in the UK who entered the competition.

The year 10's book, Hazardous Harry, already helped them to win the Best Overall Company, the Best Trade Stand and Best Presentation at the Lancashire Young Enterprise Awards and, at the North West finals where they represented Lancashire, they won the Social Enterprise prize.

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The book was born when a fire alarm went off at the school in Ormerod Road and the pupils realised that if they could not remember the protocol then younger students probably could not either.

Further study revealed that the available information for young children was rigid, outdated and old fashioned so the enterprising group decided to write their own book

They consulted with Burnley Fire Station chiefs to make sure they message they were sending out was the correct one and Hazardous Harry became a reality.

It tells the story, in poem form, of how Hazardous Harry accidentally starts a fire while his sister is upstairs but she has learnt about fire safety so she follows the procedure of calling the fire service and makes sure everyone leaves the house safely.

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The book, which received praise and backing from Burnley MP Julie Cooper, is now available from the school priced at £3-99.

The talented students are already thinking about their next book, Sensible Sally, based on Harry's sister.

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