Writing Competitions - Get Creative!

ReadingZone World Book Day Picture Book Competition 2017

Do you enjoy drawing and writing short stories? This competition challenges you to create your own picture book on and around World Book Day.  It is open to students aged up to 18 years, individually or as a group, and runs until 22^nd April, with winners announced in June.

The student with the winning picture book will win a free author event and 50 printed copies of their winning book, as well as additional prizes for winners in the four categories.

For tips, guidelines and entry details visit the ReadingZone website.

2017 Betjeman Poetry Prize

This a great poetry writing competition with fabulous prizes for students aged 10-13.  You simply need to write a poem on the theme of ‘a sense of place’ and enter by post or online by 31^st July 2017.

The competition will be judged by wonderful Chris Riddell, Children’s Laureate, and poet RachelRooney.  The winning poet will receive £1000 (£500 for their school), Eurostar tickets and be crowned St Pancras Laureate for a year.  The six finalists are invited to a 3-day poetry workshop and to a prize giving on National Poetry.

For inspiration, writing tips, and competition rules go to www.betjemanpoetryprize.co.uk. 

Take a Risk - Prize Draw Winners

At the end of last term we ran our ever popular 'Take a Risk' competition in the Discovery Library.  As well as being a favourite with students, our sixth form helpers particularly enjoyed helping with this competition, marking questionnaires and giving out much coveted prizes.

Lots of you took part - 130 questionnaires were successfully completed and 42 spot prize were given out. All entries were then put forward for the free prize draw. 

The following prize draw winners were presented with their prizes at Assembly.

• Joe 7WL
• Lauren 7BT
• Ruth 8BA

BBC Radio 2 500 Words Competition 2017

The ever popular BBC Radio 2 500 words story writing competition is back for the seventh year!  It is open to anyone aged 13 or under.  To enter you simply need to write an original short story of no more than 500 words about anything you like and submit your story online!

The competition closes for entries at 7 pm on Thursday, 23rd February.  Prizes include Chris Evan’s height in books plus the top 50 entrants will receive tickets to the final, which will take place at the Tower of London on 16th June.  There are celebrity judges and the winning stories are announced and read out by superstar celebs. Why not give it a go?  To enter and for inspiration, hints and tips visit the 500 words website.

Blue Peter Awards 2017 - shortlisted books

The Blue Peter Book Awards, in association with The Book Trust, celebrate children's books and recognise the best authors and illustrators.  Started in 2000, the Awards are given to the best fiction (best story) and best non-fiction books (book with facts).  The six shortlisted books for 2017 are:

Best story:

• Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford, the award winning debut novel (find it in the Discovery Library)
• Podkin One Ear by Adam Murphy, illustrated by David Wyatt, an epic story
• Lost Tales by Lisa Murphy, a collection of forgotten folk stores, by Lara Williamson

Best book with facts:

• Survivors by David Long, an anthology of true stories illustrated by Kerry Hyndman.
• Destination Space by Dr Christoph Englert, facts about space illustrated by Tom Clohosy Cole
• Football School: Where Football Rules the World by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, illustrated by Spike Gerrell

This year’s winners will be voted for by 400 school children from 12 schools and announced on Blue Peter on 23^rd February 2017.  In addition, the winning authors and illustrators will appear on a special episode of Blue Peter on World Book Day, Thursday 2^nd March.

Dystopian Literature on Display!

Welcome back!  We hope you had a good break and enjoyed some great reads!

Our new book displays in the Libraries feature dystopian literature.  These are books that are set in an imagined, futuristic society that dehumanises and suppresses individuals and tend to include darker themes such as war, disease and disaster.  The dystopian genre features heavily in YA fiction, providing thrilling, action-packed and thought-provoking novels!

We have some excellent books for you to browse and borrow, from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, The MazeRunner series and the Gone series by Michael Grant to Nineteen Eight Four by George Orwell and Riot by Sarah Mussi.  In the WML, we also have a great selection of graphic novels with dystopian themes, including V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and Days Gone Bye (The Walking Dead series) by Robert Kirkman.

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!