Creative Monica wins class woodland adventure

THE winner of a creative writing competition for children in Edinburgh is celebrating after earning herself and her classmates a woodland adventure.

Monica Robb, aged 11 and a pupil at Liberton Primary School, is the latest winner of the annual Green Pencil Awards.

This year's theme was "think global, act local", with entrants promoting a Scottish or local environmental issue close to their heart.

Monica saw her thought- provoking poem, A Greener World win her school a set of waterproof jackets and trousers as well as training, workshops and a day in the woodlands for her whole class, courtesy of Edinburgh's Forest School Project.

Author Alexander McCall Smith said: "This is a marvellous project from a library system of which Edinburgh can be truly proud.

"Given the chance, children naturally take to writing.

"This project combines that enthusiasm with concern over our fragile environment.

"I am sure the results will be very imaginative."

The city's culture leader, Councillor Deidre Brock, added: "Scotland's literary history is enriched with a celebrated cast of illustrious writers and poets.

"We have produced some of the world's most renowned authors, and it is schemes such as The Green Pencil Award that may help to unearth the next Robert Burns or Muriel Spark."