Calne Wordfest
Calne Tale Trails: Writing Competition
Castle House and Proclamation Steps: Imaginative Tales needed
Two categories: Under 14 years and 14 and above.
Prizes of £25.00 in vouchers for each of the 4 winning stories.
Calne Wordfest is proud to announce the arrival of the first Calne Tale Trail.
The Blue Plaque Trail is available using the QR code or at https://app.calnewordfest.co.uk/
There's nothing to download, just open the web app. You'll find a map to guide you round the sites of Calne's 10 blue plaques, each of which marks a site of historic interest in Calne.
There are tales for each of the sites, but what we would like is additional tales for Proclamation Steps and Castle House. These tales can be of any kind as long as they are relevant in some way to the site. You might like to imagine what life in the castle was like, you might like to imagine the life of a stone worker building it, or the life of a servant, or the excitement of an archaeologist unearthing it long after it collapsed. For the Proclamation steps you could put yourself in the shoes of the Town Crier, or of the person who lived in Proclamation House, or you might like to write a set of proclamations. The only limit is your imagination and a length of about 350 words.
So, if you are 7, 17, 37 or 70 it's your chance to be a part of Calne's heritage.
The winning stories will be added to the Blue Plaque Tale Trail in both text and audio form so you might like to bear that in mind when writing. The recording may be done by the writer or, if this is not possible, by someone nominated by Wordfest.
The judging panel will include the Mayor of Calne, a member of the Calne Library team and a representative of Wordfest.
Please read the following and be sure to follow the instructions carefully, or your entry may be disqualified:
1. Entrants must be resident in the Calne Community Area
2. Entries should be 350 words plus or minus 10, excluding the title.
3. Entries should be emailed as an attachment to wordfesttrail@outlook.com
4. Entries should be word processed in any common format (doc, txt, etc..) or in pdf. Easily legible hand written tales scanned into pdf format are acceptable. Hand written entries may also be sent to or dropped off at Calne library in an envelope clearly marked "Calne Wordfest Tale Trail Competition".
5. The attached document (the tale) should NOT contain the writer's name. Entries will be judged anonymously.
6. Your entry should be attached to an email or separate sheet with your contact details and, where appropriate, the contact details of a responsible adult. These will not be shared outside of the requirements of the competition.
7. Entrants under the age of 16 should ask a parent or guardian to complete the consent Form (download & print the form below) and attach it to the entry.
8. By entering you grant Wordfest permission to publish and record your tale via the Calne Wordfest web app.
9. You retain copyright to your work in both text and audio form.
10. Entries must be received by midnight on 01.03.2022.
11. Results will be announced shortly after the closing date.
12. There is a prize of £25.00 in vouchers for each of the categories: U14 Proclamation Steps; 14 or over Proclamation Steps; U14 Castle House; 14 or over Castle House.
13. The judges' decision is final.
The web app has been created with the help of a grant from Calne Town Council
Calne Wordfest is a registered charity with the primary aim of improving literacy across the Calne Community Area. As well as fundraising to run adult literacy training courses, we also run festivals, workshops, theatre, comedy and musical events, story trails and competitions to celebrate communication and promote services in the Calne Community Area that can help any age or ability with literacy.
For more information please contact WordfestTrail@outlook.com
Reg charity 1179429