A NUMBER of Halesowen College students are on their way to becoming published writers in poetry and fiction after their recent success in two national competitions.

Having entered the ‘Young Writers Competition’, the work of eight Halesowen students were chosen out of thousands of entries from young people across the country.

In the poetry section, Madison Burgess, Megan Smith, Bethany Newbold, Ryan Hatton and Lilian McCann’s work was praised and will be published and in the ‘Stranger Sagas’ collection.

Entries into the fiction section – which had to be a short story of 100 words – saw the work of Madison Burgess, Ryan Hatton, Lilian McCann, Georgia Astbury, Grace Matthews and Alex Nicklin set to be published.

Luke Oakes, course leader for English literature at Halesowen College, said: “We are all delighted our students have done so well in this competition.

“For the two sections there were over 17,000 entries nationwide and for our students to be chosen is a real achievement.

“The College will receive a copy of the books when they are released later this summer.”