12 year old gifted student Callum Cleary from Richard Challoner School in New Malden, Surrey has just received £2,500 to send a wolf pack down into London’s Angel Tube Station.

This opportunity arose thanks to a partnership between the free monthly literary magazine Litro and the International Gateway for Gifted Youth, a global organisation aimed at the brightest and most creative young people from around the world. Together the two organisations offered a £2,500 prize for the best short story by an 11-19 year old.

Callum’s award-winning story, ‘Points of View’ on the misfortunes of a wolf pack, has just been placed on a specially commissioned Litro poster in Angel Tube Station. The poster will be up for two weeks giving a sneak peek of Callum’s entry before it is published in Litro Magazine (it is on the Northern line, Northbound, platform 2).

The judges this year were Sadie Jones (author of the award winning bestseller The Outcast), acclaimed author Kate Williams, prize-winning poet Laura Dockrill and musician, singer-songwriter, and cartoonist Peter Blegvad from IGGY and the University of Warwick.

 Judge Laura Dockrill said:

"....these are young people trying to find their writing voices and think we should congratulate those that are not trying to imitate what they believe is a 'short story' but those that are pushing themselves."

Judge Kate Williams said of Callum’s story:

“This is very impressive for a writer of 12. I think it's original and he has really tried to write something utterly different.”

Callum will receive his prize from Patrick Dunne, Group Communications Director at 3i at 3i Offices, in London 6pm on Tuesday 26th October. IGGY and Litro are grateful for Patrick’s support for the competition. Any journalist or photographers wishing to attend the event should contact Peter Dunn details below – but photos will also be available soon after the event.

Excerpt:

Points of View: Wolf pack hunting, Callum Cleary

I leapt.

I hit the deer’s rump hard, and flipped over it. The lame deer span round, losing its footing and then was slammed into by Darejaw, his teeth literally skinning the deer, but didn’t penetrate. For once, he had followed orders, and Treehide was ready for his fist kill… BANG.

Treehide reared back, and ran, as a tall tailless animal approached, holding an object that shone like the moon. Pack moon was just arriving when the noise killed the deer, and they had fled. Treehide, petrified, had to be dragged away by his scruff. Today wouldn’t be the day Treehide would become an adult. I wanted to attack the… thing… but didn’t. My ancestors had told rumours about a greater animal than the honourable wolf, and now I know why. These where the animals who threw moon and sun, these where the animals witch could kill by moving a finger, these where the animals that let us starve for a day and these where the animals that denied tree hide’s adulthood.

Back in the clearing, I stood and looked at the pack.

“Brothers,” I started, and then stopped. “, where’s Darejaw?”

• See the tube poster online
• Read Callum's full story

Notes for Editors:

Litro is a free monthly literary magazine that publishes new, original short fiction that excites us and offers a creative alternative to disposable free papers. Previous contributors include Irvine Welsh, Yiyun Li, Glyn Maxwell, Benjamin Zephaniah and Andrew Crumey.  100,000 copies are distributed monthly around London and the UK, including in underground stations, libraries, galleries, bars and cafes, as well as online.

IGGY - the International Gateway for Gifted Youth - is an international network of the brightest and most creative young people aged 11-19.

Members are part of a global community that provides access to a wide range of exciting opportunities unavailable anywhere else. It offers opportunities designed for the top 5% of young people in terms of ability and potential, including a range of projects, challenges, and learning opportunities that provide genuine opportunities for international engagement and collaboration.  http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/iggy/

For further information please contact:

Eric Akoto, Editor-in-Chief, Publisher Litro Magazine
Litro Magazine, 0203 371 9971
07979 073 770  email: eric@oceanmediauk.com

Peter Dunn, email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
Head of Communications, Communications Office, University House,
University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 8UW, United Kingdom     
UK Tel: 024 76 523708 Mobile 07767 655860 Fax 024 76 528194 
International  +44 24 76 523708 Mobile  +44 7767 655860

PR 135 14th October 2010