Report by Heather Ford, 16, a ixth form student at St John’s

ST JOHN’S Marlborough was one of a few carefully selected schools and academies that helped to decide the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award.

A shortlist of five stories was announced live on Radio 4 on September 16 and the students met on September 25 to discuss the shortlisted entries at a breakfast meeting.

The event began with a few students stumbling out into the atrium and soon escalated to a grand scale as they found themselves surrounding a large table, decorated with balloons, themed place mats, a fruit platter, and drinks of all kinds, courtesy of Pabulum, the St John’s caterers and Mrs Stokes, the St John’s librarian.

Everyone present soon found themselves served with a breakfast of sausages, scrambled and fried eggs, sliced tomato, hash browns and baked beans. After a gentle reminder that everyone was there with a purpose aside from only eating, the discussion began.

Overlooked by the Principal, Mrs Edmondson, Mrs Stokes and head of English Mrs Reid, the group talked through the five short stories in order, posing opinions both positive and negative.

‘Do it now, jump the table’ seemed to be the most popular choice and it was definitely the short story that was received with the most humour and strange confessions.

With topics as wildly different as the short stories were, the discussion was heavy with analysis, interpretations of symbolism, and basic opinions of overall enjoyment.

Each short story was discussed pleasantly, with a mood of neutrality and all politely waiting for their turn to discuss. The addition of good food and fresh fruit resulted in the overall atmosphere being calm and relaxed with the occasional outburst of laughter.

The short stories pulled all sorts of emotions from the group: pity, admiration, disdain, and small annoyances were all brought to the table. Sign enough that the short stories were successful. The balance between opinion of topic, favour of symbolism and literary techniques, and enjoyment of humour was level, with all aspects of the stories being appreciated.

The winner of the student choice vote, announced at an award ceremony on October 6, was Jonathan Buckley's 'Briar Road', a story about a psychic who investigates the case of a missing teenager, with Mark Haddon's 'Bunny' runner-up.