Ministry of Stories Jack Petchey Round-Up!

This is a report written by Ministry of Stories, a charity based in East London who help young people through the power of writing, on how the Jack Petchey Foundation has helped them to celebrate their young people and team this year!

Achievement Awards

2026 saw us name two Achievement Award winners – Taliyah and Wren. Taliyah was chosen by her peers for her admirable dedication, as well as her incredible illustrations, while Wren
was picked for her indiscriminate friendliness towards everyone in the group and beautiful creative writing.

Our winners chose to use their prize money to invite professional thriller author Kate Weston in to run a writing workshop from the suitably dramatic Hoxton Hall auditorium. Our young writers made the most of meeting a real-life author, asking Kate questions ranging from the classic “are you famous?” to “how do you know so much about murders?”.

A lively workshop on constructing the perfect first line to a thriller resulted in some truly tantalising story openings:
“She wasn’t meant to die. She just accidentally slipped into the pool. I didn’t push her or anything but I didn’t help her either…” – Pamela
“The rustling trees brushed past something. Something tall. Something is coming. Something we knew.” – Taliyah

A group workshop takes place in a small theatre auditorium, with participants seated in a circle of chairs on a wooden floor. Two participants in the foreground have their hands raised while several facilitators and attendees sit around the circle. The venue features ornate balcony railings, red walls, stage curtains, and dim theatrical lighting, creating an intimate discussion setting.
Young people at the writing workshop.

Thanks to the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme, our young writers:

Practised democracy and leadership, making sure that everyone’s voice was heard when deciding who should win
Celebrated a fantastic term of hard work with a fun, one-of-a-kind workshop
Met an inspiring role model, breaking down barriers into the creative industries
Learned a new writing skill and style with the help of an expert

Leader Award

The Leader Award was won by our Head of Programmes, Jess. We were overjoyed that we could celebrate her tireless advocacy for our young writers – whether that’s researching how best to keep them motivated and involved, planning new terms with exciting collaborators like Wonderbly, or the weekly job of making sure that every workshop is packed with imagination.

In keeping with why we nominated her, Jess chose to spend her grant on celebrating our young people and their writing. On the 11th July we gathered friends, family, supporters and young writers together to read and celebrate the stories they wrote this term.

Professional actors Gem and Dorothy gave their adventure stories a suitably thrilling reading that left our 160-strong audience beaming, giggling and even shedding a few tears. After the readings, our young writers got their hands on their printed anthologies, brought to life by professional publishers Wonderbly and personalised with their name and avatar on the cover. The smiles on our young writers’ faces were brilliant, posing with pride on our red carpet!

“It was just magical for us as a family to see children’s storytelling imaginations get the red carpet treatment.” – Parent

A young person wearing orange star-shaped glasses sits on a chair reading a colourful book titled Alien World and Other Stories with an adult seated behind them. Both are looking at the open book. A red carpet covers part of the wooden floor in the bright indoor space.
Young person and an adult reading a book together.
Photo credit: Jonathan Perugia

Thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation we’ve been able to celebrate our young writers with the same enthusiasm that they bring to our workshops every week. Your support has been crucial in making sure everybody – from our participants to our dedicated staff – feels championed and celebrated.