PaperCuts Logo Competitions

The Winners

& their 100 words that matter!

  • Kate Baguley

    Margaret

    I tell her how pretty she’s looking. Habit. The pink bed jacket is old. Too old to look pretty. The pink stands out against her sunken features. The icy white hair, cut for convenience. She is old. Too old to recognise me. But not too old to laugh when I stick my tongue out at her. She responds in kind. Our game. We giggle. Connected. She tells me she will die soon. However, she has time for tea first. The long dead brother, she tells me, is coming to fetch her. My aching sadness tinged with love. Margaret.

  • Molly Lambert

    My Other World

    Book. Four letters. One word. Millions of meanings. Books are my favourite. They smell like old life. Every time you read, life begins again, waiting to tell a story to anyone that is willing to listen. They can make you cry and laugh or make you feel happy or sad. The feeling digs into you like a worm in soil.
    They place words in your mouth; new ones, old ones. Let you listen to people’s feelings and sayings. Books are people whispering words in your ears. Books make you think.
    That’s why I love books. They mean another world.

  • Sam Newman

    This is a blank page

    Test, exam, assessment, report, evaluation… no matter how much a pig is weighed it won’t get fatter. My future decided by a month of ink and sweat and silence and clocks. You have ten minutes remaining. Write the answer in the space provided. This is a blank page. This is my blank survival… check and re-check then wait the summer to see if you can live. My reward for success is more exams. Cross through any work you do not want marked. Cross through us; the youth, the future. Put down your pens and close your papers…