12-year-old Scott Belshaw from East Leake has been recognised for his inspiring poem after winning a competition to have it published in a Young Writers book.
The book titled, ‘Through Their Eyes 2020 – Future Voices’ is an annual publication that showcases young writer’s work. Each year the book is released containing the next best young poetry and creative writers since it began in 1991. Its aim is to inspire kids everywhere to become confident and passionate writers.
This year’s challenge was to write a poem from someone or something else’s point of view. From world leaders and celebrities, to pets and objects. Scott entered the competition at school and his poem titled “George Floyd Kennings’ was chosen from thousands of entries nationwide.
Scott’s family recently received a letter from the organisation Young Writers who chose the 2020 winners, congratulating Scott on his winning poem.
Stuart Belshaw, Scott’s father said, “His Mum and I are obviously overjoyed and very happy that Scott has achieved this recognition at the age of twelve, and on such an unusual topic at his age, plus with having behaviour issues with ADHD and having to attend his special needs school.”
The poem covers the topic of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. A white police officer named Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for a period initially reported to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds. This event took place in May 2020 and sparked ‘Black Lives Matter’ (or BLM) a global movement protesting against racism and race injustice.
Stuart Belshaw continued, “When Scott first shared his news with us, I asked why he chose George Floyd’s sad death and his reply was, ‘Because it was so sad, at the time it was being told all over the world and I learned a lot about black people and racism, and he was in my mind.’”
Scott is a bright football crazy young lad who is a huge Forest Fan and even plays for East Leake Bantoms. He has many other interests including, vehicles, cooking, computer gaming, politics, maths and English, and he very much looks forward to going to school. He is a loving and caring boy who is a carer for his father who is a disabled amputee. He has three younger siblings, Jessica who is 11, Scarlett who is 6 and Alife, 5.
Stuart Belshaw said, “Hopefully children of his age and with behaviour issues note that it is possible in life to achieve a great status no matter what issues may try to stand in your way.”
A huge congratulations to Scott Belshaw for having his poem chosen and published!
At the time of this article going to print, Scott’s poem had not been released yet, soon it be available to view on the Young Writers website.
For more information on the Young Writers competition, visit: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/
