Sight for Wight’s Short Story Writing Competition is back after the success of last year’s event which produced some very high-quality entries.
This is the 15th year of the competition, originally started by Sight for Wight patrons, RC Bridgestock, international crime writing authors.
Cane: An exciting opportunity for budding Island writers
Chris Cane, competition organiser, said,
“This is an exciting opportunity for budding Island writers to become published authors and also win some great prizes.
“This year has a slightly different format. For the Under 8s we want them to write about a favourite animal or pet and for the Over 8s the story needs to start with, ‘A funny thing happened when…’ which will give our writers scope, creativity and a chance to let their imaginations run wild.
“We will have our usual categories of Under 8s, 8 -11, 12-17, 18+ and our special Edana Minghella Award to honour a very special person, Edana Minghella, who sadly passed away two years ago. Edana has been an avid supporter of the competition and I wanted to ensure her memory lives on with this new award.
“This category winner will be for a story with strength, depth, emotion, well-being and creativity; all characteristics dear to Edana’s heart.”
Celebrity readings
Each category winner will have their story read by one of this year’s celebrities:
Richard Cadell (bottom left) is best known for being the in-vision presenter and the hand of puppet Sooty. This is Richard’s fourth year reading for us.
Chesney Hawkes (top left_ is best-known for his hit single, “The One and Only”, which topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks and reached the top 10 in the United States. This is Richard’s second year reading for us.
Joe Pasquale (bottom middle) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter, noted for his trademark high, squeaky voice. He won the fourth series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2004 and participated in the eighth series of Dancing on Ice in 2013. He also hosted the revived version of the game show, The Price is Right.
Steve Power (right) has been in the entertainment industry for 40 years; primarily a radio presenter with various radio stations in the UK. At Wave 105, he presented Steve Power At Breakfast for over 17 years before moving to 4pm – 8pm for the last 7 years. Steve has now started a new chapter of his radio career at Nation Radio, alongside fellow presenter, Selina Ross.
Selina Ross (top middle) has had an extensive radio career. She worked on the original Devonair from 1988 which led her to work with AA Roadwatch, providing travel news to BBC & ILR stations across the South and West. With redundancy on the horizon, one of the stations she voiced travel news for took her on full time. That station was Wave 105 where she spent over 20 happy years providing travel news and co-hosting with Steve Power. She now works, alongside Steve Power, on Nation Radio since Wave 105’s demise.
Awards ceremony
The closing date for entries is Friday 1st November with the Award Ceremony on Friday 6th December at the Riverside Centre, Newport with entertainment from the Solent Singers, comedy from Luc Valvona aka Baron Fortitude and pianist Harry Lee, plus the opportunity to listen to some of the winning stories.
The winning 8 – 11 category story will then be published along with details of all the winning entries.
How to enter
Entry forms are available by email [email protected] or in person from:
- Waterstones, High Street, Newport,
- Sight for Wight, Millbrooke House, 137 Carisbrooke Road, Newport,
- Dress for Less, 57 Pyle Street, Newport and
- Vectis Radio, at the Riverside Centre, Newport.
News shared by Chris on behalf of Sight for Wight. Ed
