And the Winners Are...

Take one worried dinosaur, a deserted train platform and a bed that grew wings.  Mix together with the imagination of hundreds and hundreds of entrants from England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.  Combine with more than a gazillion hours of children writing and illustrating their stories.  Add in six judges, copious amounts of reading and several hours debating.      

Following on from the Magical Story Jars super story writing competition run in association with What’s Your Story Chorley? festival of words we are now delighted to announce the winners.  Drum roll please… 

Everyone on the judging panel found it a real challenge to decide on the final winners and truth be told, we wish everyone could have won!  A huge thanks to each and every story maker who entered the competition and thoughtfully used the story ingredients consisting of a character, a story setting and a plot from Magical Story Jars story cards to help create their story.

It was fantastic to see several entrants make the most of the opportunity to illustrate their stories.  Illustrations are a great way for any budding author to bring their story to life.  They play such a powerful role in helping young readers to grasp what is happening in the story, understand sequence of events and to get to know the characters.

We will be revealing the winning stories on our social media channels and blog over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to keep an eye out!  Indeed, Chads story ‘The Magic Bed’ will be published tomorrow evening.  We know you will enjoy reading the winning stories to your children and we hope that it will inspire them to start writing and illustrating their own stories.

So, what will the hard working winners get?  Prizes from the Magical Story Jars range will be sent to the first, second and third place winners in each of the two age categories.

If your child put lots of hard work and effort into their story but didn’t win this time around, please take comfort in knowing that choosing the winners was no easy task!  The creative writing process is a journey with ups and downs and by entering the competition your child will have learnt new skills to help them to move further along the road to story writing stardom!

Mandy Howarth, a former school head, chair of governors and chair of the What’s Your Story Chorley? planning committee noticed that the four stories listed below also really stood out.  It was agreed by all, that the authors and illustrators should be highly commended.  Each of these entrants have been contacted and congratulated!

We would like to thank every budding writer, illustrator and school who took part in the competition.  We hope you feel immensely proud and accomplished.      

Keep on writing and illustrating and be sure to have lots of fun along the way! 

A gigantic well done from all of the judges and organisers at What’s Your Story Chorley? festival of words.