Storywriting Competition 2012

Write a story and see it in an illustrated book!

Imagine stepping ashore in an unknown country - what will you find? Who or what will be the first thing you meet? And how do you feel about going into the unknown - scared? Excited? Hopeful? Why are you there and who is with you?

Arrival in an Unknown Land

Inspired by an all new adaptation for Curve theatre of the amazing tales of Gulliver, we invite you to write your own travel tale. It could be fact - arriving somewhere you'd never been before - or it could be fiction. Or science fiction - journey to a new planet, through a time portal, to another dimension. You decide. As strange or as ordinary as you wish. Gulliver found tiny people and giants, flying islands and worlds were men were servants of horses. He was never the same again. What does your experience do to you? And do you ever get back home?

How to enter

Judging will be in two categories: - Category 1 for 7-12 years and Category 2 for 13 - 16 years. Entrants must be resident in Leicester city, or attend a city school. [See full terms and conditions]

Entries must be a maximum of 500 words and should be sent to:-

Storywriting Competition
The Spark Children's Arts Festival
LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester LE1 1RE

or email to story@sparkfestival.co.uk

Deadline for entries : 18th April 2012

Judging

Entries will be read by a panel of judges including Chris d'Lacey (author of "The Last Dragon Chronicles") and also by schools who wish to take part in the judging process.

The winners will be announced on 21st May.

The 10 winning stories will be illustrated and published in a book in October 2012.

The 10 winning writers will also win two tickets each to Gulliver's Travels on Friday 1st JuneIn a new stage adaptation of the classic book by Jonathan Swift, Dragon Breath and Curve theatre bring Swift's tale to life for modern audiences with their celebrated epic visual performance style.

Schools

In addition to individual entries the 2012 competition is designed to offer schools more opportunities to extend writing and reading acitivity, and offers two ways of getting involved:

1. Get your class writing and send us your entries

Entries from Leicester city primary and secondary schools are warmly invited - send us your stories by the 23rd March deadline and remember to include age and name on each story and the teacher contact details.

Teachers - Peter Rumney, the writer of "Gulliver's Travels", has kindly povided some helpful Hints and Tips for you to use in your story writing classes [See below]. Peter is an award winging playwright, poet and writer of stories who specialises in creating work for young people. He is a member of the National Literacy Trust Literacy Leader network, and a Senior Lecturer in Narrative & Interactive Arts at Nottingham Trent University.

2. Become a 'Judging School'

We want to know which stories children and young people like best - this is a chance for children to read, discuss and vote on their favourite stories. The 20 short listed stories (10 in each age category) will be circulated to all schools who want to take part in the judging between 18th April and 14th May. Please call us on 0116 261 6893 if you would like to be a judging school.

This competition is supported by Whatever It Takes, Leicester city's reading campaign.