The Grand Storytelling Competition
What if, in running away from her prince, Cinderella had tripped and shattered her glass slipper? What if Princess Badroulbadour had decided not to marry Aladdin, even with his magic lamp? What if Snow White had fallen in love with one of the dwarves, instead of her prince?
What if Ophelia had lived? Or Paris had decided not to kidnap Helen of Troy? What if Odysseus had never escaped Calypso? Or Frankenstein’s monster had known love?
Re-imagine your favourite fairytale, myth or legend, and be in to win £75! You can do this through any medium—short story, slam poem, song, comic strip and the like.
Categories:
- Entrants must be under 10 years of age (inclusive).
- Entrants must be between 11 and 17 years of age.
- Entrants may be 18 years or older.
Please indicate which category you are entering.
Prizes for each category
- First prize = £75
- Two runners up will each receive £25
DEADLINE: 5pm, Tuesday 5 May 2020.
Rules and Regulations:
1. While the prompt (ie the fairytale, myth or legend) may be in another language, your own re-created entry must be in English, your own unaided work, and not a translation of another writer.
2. Short story and poetry entries must be shorter than 2,000 words or fewer.
3. Please send all entries as a pdf or Word document to torch@humanities.ox.ac.uk. Judging is anonymous. Your name and address must not appear on the pieces entered, nor any other marks that could identify you. Please identify yourself in the body of the email, not the attached entry itself.
4. Maximum two entries per person.
5. The closing date is 5pm, Tuesday 5 May 2020. The winning entry, and two runners-up will be notified by 5pm, Saturday 30 May 2020.
6. TORCH reserves the right to publish the top three entries from each category on our website and social media channels ad infinitum. Authors may also publish their pieces elsewhere.
7. We will not enter into any correspondence about the winner or entries, nor will we make changes to entries received. Incomplete submissions will not be accepted. The judges’ decisions will be final. Your entry in the competition means you accept these rules.
8. We will abide by good practice in the running of this competition, but cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond our control such being unable to acces our website services. Prizes may be withheld or altered if we receive no outstanding entries, or insufficient entries.
9. Entry is FREE. No entry form is needed.
10. Notification of receipt of entry will be by email.
11. Stories cannot be altered or substituted once they have been entered.
12. Entry is taken to be acceptance of these rules.
13. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. You may quote the original fairytale, myth or legend, but the purpose of this competition is to re-tell the story in your own way. Make it your own creation, and use the original tale as a starting point.
14. This storytelling competition is international and welcomes entrants in English from all countries.
15. Entering or winning the competition does not confer a lasting association of any kind with TORCH.
16. In the body of your email, please indicate which category you apply to.
