The Crafty Writer » Competitions

Showcase your writing with Circalit

Fiona Veitch Smith — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:06:43 +0000

I’ve just come across a great new resource for writers called Circalit. You can showcase your novel, short story or screenplay online through one of the many community fora. You can get feedback from other users. In addition, Circalit run periodic competitions with their partners which include book publishers and film producers. Some of these competitions are free. For more information visit http://www.circalit.com/public/

True animal stories contest

Fiona Veitch Smith — Thu, 20 May 2010 08:58:30 +0000

In my creative and non-fiction writing classes there are always people who want to write stories about animals. Here’s a contest for you.

The Angel Animals Network 2010 True Story Contest is now accepting submissions of true stories of animals helping children, parents, and families deal with difficult situations and circumstances. Animals featured can be dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, or any house pet or animal in nature. They can be family pets or therapy, assistance, or service animals.

The stories can be written by parents or guardians of children or by the children or teens themselves. Stories can also be written by adults who recall a special animal from childhood or teen years who helped them through a tough period.

This contest hopes to find real-life stories that demonstrate animals comforting and helping to heal children during everyday ups and downs or traumatic events such as divorce or other losses. The stories can depict how children and teens de-stress with animals while learning valuable life lessons. The deadline is 15 September 2010. For more details visit Angel Animals.

Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

Fiona Veitch Smith — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:52:32 +0000

My film, Enemy Lines, has been selected in the short film category at this year’s Rushes Soho Shorts Festival:

140 new films from 18 countries will be competing in 8 categories: Long Form, International, Newcomer, Short Film, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and Broadcast Design. The Official Competition Screenings will be held at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London. The Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday 30th July 2009.

Enemy Lines will be screened on Thursday 23 July (6.30pm , Cinema 1; Saturday 25 July (9pm, Cinema 2) and Wednesday 29 July (9pm, Cinema 1).

Other films to be screened at the festival include Sadie Frost’s Directorial Debut, Danny Boyles End Credit Sequence for Slumdog Millionaire, actors such as Michael Bryne (Gangs of New York), Juliet Stevenson (Bend It Like Beckham), Nick Nolte (Hotel Rwanda, 48 Hours), Connie Fischer (Sound Of Music), Russel Tovey (Being Human), Chris Hehir (Green Street), Danny Cunningham (24 Hour Party People), Jack O’Connell (This is England), comedians such as Adam Buxton Lulu McClatchy and Alexei Sayle, and music videos from McFly to Royskopp, Will Young to Goldfrapp, Coldplay and U2 and many more.

Having grown dramatically every year since its inauguration in 1998, this year’s festival runs over 10 days and offers a wide range of events including the Opening Night Premiere ‘The Calling’, BAFTA Short Filmmakers Market, seminars, panel discussions, guest screening programmes, receptions and exhibitions held in 15 different venues in Soho district.

All events and full booking details can be found on their website: www.sohoshorts.com.

I’ll be going down for the Wednesday screening and will be meeting up with my director, Michael Steel. Please let me know if you’re going to any of the screenings.

True Life Stories – market opportunity

Fiona Veitch Smith — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:09:15 +0000

Field Report.com is a community website that features true-life stories. Membership is free, and you simply have to ‘rate’ five other stories in order to qualify to up-load your own 2000 word story. They’ve currently got a competition going with the closing date now extended to 31 December 2008. Each month, the winning story will win $1,000 and be entered into a $250,000 prize draw in January 2009. I thought this might be too good to be true so I checked it out and found that both the Guardian and Time Magazine have featured the website and this contest and seem to think it’s legit.

So what are you waiting for? Get writing! If you need some tips on writing from life, check out this session in our free non-fiction writing course.

Talking Animal Stories – Wind in the Willows MK II?

Fiona Veitch Smith — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:16:46 +0000

In my writing for children classes I often catch myself reciting the mantra: publishers aren’t interested in talking animals anymore. It’s what you hear at every writing conference and read on most publishers’ websites. And yet, I have published my own ‘talking animals’ book, Donovon’s Rainbow and many of the books I read to my three-year-old daughter feature talking animals too. One of her favourites is Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett and, to my delight, the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne.

‘Grown-up’ favourites

Most ‘grown up’ readers still list talking animal stories as their perennial favourites, particularly those with a sociological or religious sub-text such as Alice in Wonderland (1865), The Wind in the Willows (1908), Animal Farm (1945), The Chronicles of Narnia (1949 – 54), Watership Down (1972), Duncton Wood (1980) and the His Dark Materials series (1995 – 2000). A recent Book Trust poll in the United Kingdom, which asked adults to vote for their favourite children’s book of all time, has placed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in first place and Winnie the Pooh in fourth. And although it is not strictly a talking animal book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar munches its way into second. Other talking animal stories in the top 10 are The Gruffalo, The Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. That’s 60% for those of you whose reading is better than your maths.

Do publishers listen when animals talk?

So is it true that publishers won’t look at talking animal stories? Not according to Laura Backes’ article Straight Talk About Talking Animals. While it may be difficult for new writers to get their talking animal friends through the door, she believes that if you knock loud enough, you might get in:

Twenty years ago “talking animal stories” were everywhere. Then, in the early 1990’s, many editors decided they didn’t want to see these books anymore. Of course, established authors like William Steig never stopped populating their stories with chatty mice or frogs, but beginning writers had trouble getting talking animal books past the slush pile. Now the tide has turned again, and it appears that every publisher has new picture books featuring animals with something to say.

Wind in the Willows MK II?

So if you can’t stop those little critters from populating your imagination, why not let them out? The Kenneth Grahame Society are launching a competition to find a sequel, prequel or related story to the classic The Wind in the Willows. Stories must be a homage, written in a similar style, to a length of 5,000 words – an average chapter in the original book. There are three prizes of £500, £150 and £100 and a selection of the best writing will be published in an anthology. Closing date is 30 June 2008. Watch out, Toad is back on the road!

Whilst on the subject of writing competitions, the Nestle’ Smarties Book Prize, one of the few leading awards that asks children to vote for their favourite books, is sadly coming to an end. It’s been running since 1985 and past winners have featured JK Rowling, Lauren Child, Anne Fine, Quentin Blake, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Chris Riddell. What a lot they’d got!

You might also want to check out this list of some more children’s writing competitions. And if you’re looking for a little inspiration, have a look at my articles on:

My First Poem competition

Fiona Veitch Smith — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:00:21 +0000

On National Poetry Day I was delighted to receive an invitation to judge a poetry competition at my daughter’s nursery, Westerhope Village Nursery School. Megan is only two-and-a-half, so it was the ‘big’ children who entered the My First Poem competition run by Forward Press. With over a dozen budding poets completing a ‘fill-in-the-gap’ sheet, it was desperately hard to pick three winners. These were the ones that caught my eye …

First Prize

Spencer Perkins, Age 3

My name is Spencer and I go to preschool
My best friend is Abbie who is really cool
I watch Robots on TV
Playing with water is lots of fun for me
Pudding I just love to eat
And sometimes a lolly pop for a treat
Blue is a colour I like a lot
A beautiful bike is the best present I ever got
My favourite person is Mummy who is a gem
So this, my first poem, is just for them!

Spencer’s poem received top honours because of its use of alliteration. He may not realise that’s what he’s done, but it suggests a writer with an instinctive feel for words. His picture of the ‘Beautiful Bike’ suggests that Spencer is currently in his Blue Period.

Second Prize

Alicia Simpson, Age 3

My name is Alicia and I go to preschool
My best friend is Emily who is really cool
I watch Sky Plus on TV
Playing dressy up is lots of fun for me
Mince and dumplings I just love to eat
And sometimes sweeties for a treat
Yellow is a colour I like a lot
Purple dog is the best present I ever got
My favourite person is Reece who is a gem
So this, my first poem, is just for them!

Alicia was a close second because of her choice of visually striking images and quirky phrases. You can see more of Alicia’s colourful self-expression in her picture of ‘Sweeties’.

Third Prize

Sophie Trattles, Age 4

My name is Sophie and I go to preschool
My best friend is Sarah who is really cool
I watch CBeebies on TV
Playing with dolls is lots of fun for me
Bananas I just love to eat
And sometimes yoghurts for a treat
Purple is a colour I like a lot
An expensive telephone is the best present I ever got
My favourite person is Jane who is a gem
So this, my first poem, is just for them!

Sophie received third prize because of her wide vocabulary (and healthy eating choices!). If this had been an art competition her fabulous picture of ‘Jane’ would have won first place.

Congratulations to Forward Press, Westerhope Village Nursery and the parents of all the children who entered for developing a love of words at such an early age. For more on my recommendations for good children’s books go to my article on Picture Books, How to Choose a Good Children’s Book and the picture book section of my Bookshop. You may also want to help HIV / Aids orphans in Africa by buying my book for 7 – 9 year-olds, Donovon’s Rainbow.

Children’s writing competitions

Fiona Veitch Smith — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:12:11 +0000

Unpublished children’s writers might want to check out this competition run by Chicken House and The Times. They’re looking for manuscripts of under 80,000 words in any genre, for 9 – 16 age group. Closing date is 17 November 2007.

‘Amateur’ (not sure if this means unpublished) children’s writers can enter the Academy of Children’s Writers competition. Any age. Any genre. Closing date 31 March 2008.

Short stories or books up to 1,000 words are wanted for the Writers’ Advice Centre Children’s Story Competition. Any age. Must be suitable for current market. Closing date: 31 August 2008.

If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration you may want to check out my free articles on writing for children: what makes a good children’s book, picture books, sex and romance, mysteries and thrillers. Or have a look at my children’s book Donovon’s Rainbow, which is available as a free download.

The Crafty Writer » Competitions

Showcase your writing with Circalit

Related posts:

True animal stories contest

Related posts:

Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

Related posts:

True Life Stories – market opportunity

Related posts:

Talking Animal Stories – Wind in the Willows MK II?

‘Grown-up’ favourites

Do publishers listen when animals talk?

Wind in the Willows MK II?

Related posts:

My First Poem competition

First Prize

Second Prize

Third Prize

Related posts:

Children’s writing competitions

Related posts: