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Writing Competition Winners Announced

Thanks and congratulations to everyone who entered our 2nd Quarter ‘Belonging’ Writing Competition.

Once again we had a large number of very high standard entries in this competition so please don’t be disheartened if you didn’t win a place.

The margin between our first and second place adult entries was so small that we are awarding both Dimity Powell and Daan Spijer a 5 page manuscript assessment each. As winner of the category, Dimity will also receive a book.
Entries that stood out were those with strong characters and voices where there was a piece of action or something to hook the reader in straight away.

It was interesting to see that some of the plot ideas people came up with were quite similar, and this clearly related to the theme of the competition. There were for example at least three stories about stray dogs.

The best stories established what the main character’s problem was very early on or at least the problem the character was having in that scene.

There was some beautiful scene setting and some wonderful descriptions but some stories lacked tension and conflict.

Thanks to Wendy Orr and Amra Pajalic for donating fabulous book prizes for this competion.

TIPS FOR FUTURE COMPETITIONS 

PLEASE FOLLOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES – If you want to be a writer, this is really important. Publishers might not look at your work if it doesn’t follow submission guidelines.

Here are some other tips based on some of the things that prevented stories in this competition from being the best they could be.

  1. Stories must always be submitted according to submission guidelines stated.
  2. Stories MUST BE double spaced and have paragraph breaks. It’s always preferable to attach them to your email as a word document.
  3. Always check your punctuation and spelling before submitting your entry. Read your story out aloud and this will help you pick up places where words have been accidentally missed out or the story doesn’t make sense.
  4. Too much telling and not showing. Don’t talk about what your characters said. Show them talking with dialogue. Don’t tell the reader about the things that have happened to a character, show them happening. This will involve the reader more in your story.
  5. Keep tenses consistent. For example, don’t change from past to present tense and back again.
  6. Try not to overuse adjectives and adverbs. Use active language and be specific with your descriptions. Instead of saying a character is beautiful, try and give the reader a picture of why this character is beautiful and try to incorporate it into the action. For example, “As Lorraine ran, a deep red flush fused her smooth skin and her full lips were pursed with concentration. Her slender legs cut through the grass and her sleek hair had been tied back so it slapped at her back like a thick, dark rope.”
  7. Some introductions had too much telling – recapping what has happened to get to this point. This is called backstory. If you need to include this information, weave it through the story, don’t have big paragraphs of this kind of information, especially at the start. Your reader needs to get to know your main character and what their story problem is as soon as possible.
  8. Try not to jump around with point of view – changing from one character’s head to another. This will confuse your reader.
  9. The start of your story is so important. The reader has to get a clear idea of who your story is about and what kind of story this is.
  10. Look at the sequence of events in your story. Is it logical? Do you jump around too much from past to present and back again? This will confuse the reader?

I hope you find these hints helpful for future writing.

If you want to enter future competitions or submit to publishers, we strongly suggest you follow the submissions guidelines. Judges may mark you down if your manuscript isn’t formatted correctly.

Congratulations to all the worthy winners and to every one who wrote a story and had the courage to enter it.

Dee:) 

COMPETITION RESULTS 

Age 8-12 

First Place Matthew Dimotakis Heat Attack
Highly Commended Ophilia Kong The Shadow Twin
Highly Commended Sophie Slater Winter Chill
Highly Commended Tabitha Neil Breaking Point
Commended Ang Li Shan Tears
Commended Caitlin Davey Harriet and Henry
Commended Daniela Koulikov Hope
Commended Jeral Lim One Last Look
Commended Kathleen Cuppen Finding Where You Belong
Commended Laila O’Donnell Untitled
Commended Nicholas Dimotakis Blade
Commended Rachel Hughes Dad’s Teddy

Teen Category 

First Place Courtney Gould Everything But
Highly Commended Kim Rance Broken Hour Glass
Highly Commended Jamie Tram Lost and Found
Commended David Athan Loss and Recovery
Commended Nicholas Lim The 6 Fingered Man
Commended Reena Mukherjee Everyone’s Waiting
Commended Warren Lee Expecting the Unexpected

Adult Category 

First Place Dimity Powell The Boy Who Lost His Laugh
Second Place Daan Spijer Diversity
Highly Commended Jackie Tritt Transformation
Commended Kelly McDonald Amazing Grace
Commended Cassandra Wilson The Beginning of Independence

Thanks again for entering our competition. All prize winners certificates will be sent out this week and book winners should receive their prizes shortly. 

First place winners also receive a five-page manuscript assessment. Please email your five pages, double-spaced in 12 point font with 3cm margins all round to dee@deescribe.com.au

Happy writing:) 

Dee

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NEW WRITING COMPETITION!

Our 3rd Quarter Writing Competition for Kids and Adults is now open.

The theme for this quarter is ‘Using Fact in Fiction‘.

So you can write a fictional story that’s set in the real world or you can use something that really happened or a real person as inspiration for a work of fiction.

Once again we’ll have some fabulous books and manuscript assessments as prizes.

CHANGES TO COMPETITON CONDITIONS

A small fee now applies for ADULTS only 

We have been overwhelmed with the number and quality of entries we have been receiving from all over the world. It’s wonderful to see so many talented writers of all ages sending their work out.

We started running these competitions to encourage kids who love to write and we intend to ALWAYS keep these competitions FREE for young writers.

Unfortunately we will have to charge a $10 entry fee for adults to cover the costs of administration, and posting prizes to international destinations.

In view of this we will be increasing the size of the first prize for adults. The winner of first prize in the adult category will now receive a ten-page manuscript assessment valued at $50.

WRITING & SUBMISSION TIPS

  • Try to show the reader what’s happening through action and dialogue rather than telling them.
  • Try and keep your tenses consistent – if you start writing in past tense (we had, she ran etc), keep this consistent throughout your story.
  • Make sure you ‘double space’ your entry.
  • Avoid using clichés
  • Include as much conflict and action as you can.
  • Try to introduce your main character straight away and allow your reader to connect with them and want to follow their journey.
  • ALWAYS follow submission guidelines.

PLEASE READ THESE COMPETITION GUIDELINES CAREFULLY 

Entries will be accepted in the following categories:

  • Children aged 8 to 12
  • Teens aged 13 to 17
  • Adult category aged 18 and over

Unfortunately due to the large number of entries we have been receiving, entries are now limited to one per person. 

PRIZES & CONDITIONS 

Children & Teens

  • The winner will receive a book and a 5 page manuscript assessment.
  •  ALL children and teens who enter will receive a certificate even if they are not a major prize winner.

Adults

  • The winner will receive a 10 page manuscript assessment valued at $50
  • Certificates will be awarded to the top place getters.
  • Additional manuscript assessments may be awarded at the judges’ discretion.

Special conditions for adult entries 

  1. A $10AUD entry fee applies. You can pay this through PayPal by going to the Writing shop page http://writingclassesforkids.com/products/
  2. Please include your payment ID number with your entry form.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR ALL ENTRIES

Please make sure your submission follows these guidelines:

*    Submissions must be no longer than 500 words. They can be a complete story or just a part of one.

*    Do not include your name anywhere on the submission but please include the name of the story.

*    All entries must be in the following format:

  1. 12 point type…Arial or Times Roman
  2. Double spaced (between the lines)
  3. A4 sized paper
  4. 3cm margins all the way around

*    Please email your submission to Dee*at*Deescribe*dot*com*dot*au

*    All emails should include the following information in the subject line:

  1. Name of writer
  2. Name of story
  3. Age category being entered
  4. “Fact in Fiction story submission”

This competition excludes picture books and poetry.

This competition closes on 30th September 2012.

Good luck:)

 

 

 

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