Grenaa Gymnasium in the Finals at Creative Writing Competition

Ellen Dujardin, a 2nd year STX student at Grenaa Gymnasium was among the 11 finalists out of 1100 in this year’s SkriveCup.

SkriveCup is a nationwide competition in creative writing and the finals were held on April 26th at Aarhus Theatre. Grenaa Gymnasium participated for the first time and with no less than seven Danish classes.
Ellen Dujarding, 2.us, went all the way to the finals with her poem Lykkens land (Land of happiness) which is a new version of the Danish national anthem, Der er et yndigt land. For her performance Ellen had also composed a melody.

It is a requirement in the competition to perform one’s literary work with scenography, pictures, costume, props, sound or any other artistic effects. Ellen was backed by Nikolaj Jackson, who is also a 2nd year student at Grenaa Gymnasium, on the piano.
“It was fun to see how the other finalists had solved the challenge to write a new version of an old text and perform it in a contemporary way,” Nikolaj explains. “The quality of the new versions were very high and it was really interesting to see the variety of creative solutions.”
Ellen agrees and ads: “I was inspired by the works of the other finalists and at the same time I was proud to perform a work of my own.”

A hands-on experience of literature, language and creativity

To Danish teacher at Grenaa Gymnasium, Glennie Lund Grøfte, letting the students participate in the competition makes a lot of sense. “The SkriveCup is an example of how we let our students acquire and understand theoretical knowledge through practical and engaging activities. This competition allows them to practice analysis of fiction texts and to be able to distinguish between different genres.These are core elements of the Danish curriculum through all the STX years. Also it stimulates their linguistic perception and their creativity.”

The prize for all 11 finalists was a creative writing course at Krabbesholm Højskole.

SkriveCup is a competition invented by Egaa Gymnasium and has been held since 2015 in cooperation with Dansklærerforeningen (the association of Danish teachers in Denmark)