Literary Competition
As part of the celebrations marking the Queen’s Jubilee this summer, East Grinstead Town Council is launching a Short Story/Poetry competition.
Hollywood screen writer Neil Gaiman (Coraline/Stardust), who grew up in East Grinstead, has generously supported us with a prize for the winner of the teen short story, and the Soroptimists are sponsoring the under-eights poetry prize.
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Adult’s competition
Entry fee £3 each submission, £10 for four.
First prize in each category: £100, and a commemorative Jubilee plaque. Second prize in each category: £50 and a commemorative Jubilee plaque.
Deadline is 1 May and entry is open to anyone who lives or works in, or has a connection to, Sussex.
Winning entries will be published on the East Grinstead Town Council website.
Names, contact details and titles on a separate piece of paper. The only identification on the entries themselves should be the title and word count.
Entries to: East Grinstead Town Council Jubilee Literary Competition at East Court, East Grinstead, RH19 3LT.
Poems up to 40 lines long can be humorous or serious, on a theme connected to Sussex, or the Queen’s Jubilee, and containing one of the following words:
- service
- reign
- queen
- soldier
- sixty
- Sussex
- England
Short stories, up to 1000 words, should start with one of the following first lines:
- Sixty years? It didn’t seem possible…
- As the On Air light glowed into life, the Queen discarded her prepared speech and addressed the nation in her own words…
- She had no umbrella, so the Queen caught up her collar, glad to hide her face from the rain and from the few stragglers lingering in the thin drizzle…
- Behind the Prime Minister’s back, the Queen suppressed a giggle, pleased that a lifetime of decorum had not quite extinguished her sense of humour…
The Town Mayor will present prizes if recipients are close enough to travel to East Grinstead, and winners who wish to receive their prizes in person will be invited to read their winning entries during the weekend celebrations marking the Jubilee.
Judges’ decisions are final.
Children’s competition
Rules for the children’s competition – entry via the schools please:
Under-eights
The competition for the under-eights is divided into categories for short stories and poems.
The first prize in each category will be a £15 book token, a commemorative Jubilee gold medal and a signed copy of Pirate Gran Goes for Gold by East Grinstead children’s author Geraldine Durrant: second prizes will be £10 book tokens and a commemorative Jubilee silver medal.
Poems (any length – prizes sponsored by The Soroptimists) should contain one of the following words:
- Queen
- Princess
- sixty
- corgi
- crown
Short stories (up to 250 words) should start with one of the following first lines:
- It was fun being the Queen…
- The corgi escaped while no-one was looking…
Eight to 12-year-olds
This is for short stories only, with prizes for first, second and third place of book tokens worth £25, £15 and £10 respectively, and gold, silver and bronze commemorative Jubilee medals respectively.
Short stories (up to 500 words) starting with one of the following first lines:
- The fireworks lit up the sky high above the palace…
- The Queen turned up her collar and slipped out of the palace by the side door…
- “It’s a secret,” she said, “You mustn’t tell anyone…”
13 to 18-year-olds
This is for short stories only. First prize is £40 in book tokens, and a book signed by East Grinstead author turned Hollywood screenwriter Neil Gaiman (Coraline, Stardust). Second prize £25 in book tokens/third prize £15. Winners will also receive gold, silver and bronze commemorative Jubilee medals.
Short stories of up to 750 words starting with one of the following first lines:
- The old man had been a soldier all his life…
- A lot can happen in 60 years…
- Even queens can have an off day…
- A dark figure scaled the palace walls and dropped quietly to the ground…
Because we are inviting entries from all the town’s children we would ask for only the best five submitted to be put forward by each school to avoid being overwhelmed.
Deadline for entries is 1 May. Prizes will be presented by the mayor, during the weekend of celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee when the winners will be invited to read out their entries if they would like to. They will also be published on the Town Council website.
Four copies of each of the shortlisted entries submitted by schools should have the name and contact details of the author on a separate sheet, along with the name of the school and the title of their entry.
The only identification on the stories/poems themselves should be their title and word count.
Entries need to reach the Town Councils East Court offices no later than the 1 May.