A great opportunity for budding authors, poets and journalists!  Enter this prestigious national competition in which local competitors have done really well in recent years, a great experience and, potentially, a great addition to your CV.

This year the task is to produce a piece entitled "Reflection" in about 500 words or a page of A4.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry.  Entries have to be in to the organiser, Mike Thorpe, by Friday 24th February.    Further details in the Info pack below, including an entry form at the end that can be copied and pasted into a word processor document .  Any questions, please contact Mike at mike@mailord.co.uk or via midhertsrotary@ymail.com

Guidance Notes for 2016 – 2017

THEME – ‘REFLECTION’

Introduction

This National Young Writer Competition is a well established and successful competition promoted by Rotary International in Britain and Ireland (RIBI).

It is a three-stage competition designed to support and encourage development of writing skills.

Aims

This competition aims to encourage young people to:

·         Use their writing skills

·         Write with imagination and creativity

Who can take part?

The competition is open all schools and college communities including those that are home educated and any other young people’s community organisations, for example, community RotaKids, community Interact, Scout Groups, Girl Guides.

The three age groups are:

Junior                       7 to 10 years old

Intermediate         11 to 13 years old

Senior                    14 to 17 years old

on 31 August 2016.

With the age qualifying date of 31st August 2016, it should be noted that some junior entrants may be 11, intermediate entrants may be 14 and some senior entrants may be 18 at the time of some or all the stage competitions i.e. a competitor may be 17 on 31st August but turns 18 on 1^st September is allowed to enter. Competitors must include their date of birth on the entry form.

For entrants with motor control difficulties, an amanuensis may be used to record the entrants work to paper.

Students should enter the competition organised by the local Rotary Club through their respective group as detailed above.

Competitors, school, colleges, and organisations can participate in a District that is outside of their boundary, but can only compete in one Club/District competition.

The Three Stages of the Competition

Local Heats       

Organised by Mid-Herts Rotary, comprising of the Rotary Clubs of Brookmans Park, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Welwyn Garden City. Age group winners of local heats are entered into a District Competition. The deadline for the local heat entries is Friday 24^th February 2017. Entries to mike@mailord.co.uk or to: Mike Thorpe, 115 Park Avenue, POTTERS BAR, EN6 5EW.

District Competitions   

Organised by Rotary. Age group winners of District competitions are entered into the National Final.

National Final  

Organised by Rotary. One entry per age group per District may be submitted by Monday 8th May 2017 to the organiser, Peter DOWSE, 14 Stocksfield, Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, Essex, England CM15 0BU.

The dates for Local Heats and District Competition will be determined locally. Interested parties should check dates with their local Rotary Club.

Competition Guidelines

Task     

To produce a written or typed story in prose entitled, ‘Reflection’. The written entry could be fiction or non-fiction, a story or a poem, as long as the piece relates to the theme. Questions have been asked about spelling and although this is not an issue the only advice to be given are that judges of this competition have made comment upon spelling in the past.

An A4 page or up to 500 hundred words is a suggested suitable submission.

Entries should be sent to the Stage organiser by the closing date.

Entries may not be returned unless specifically requested

Judges

With appropriate skills, appointed by Rotary, will apply the judging criteria below.

Judging Criteria          
Judges will consider imagination relative to the subject; ability to engage interest and ability to be consistent in the power of argument

Only in exceptional circumstance, at the sole discretion of the competition organiser, will correspondence or discussions be entered into following a competition by the competition organiser.

Prizes  

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation.

The National winners will be given appropriate awards

How to enter

To enter a local heat, interested parties should contact their local Rotary Club. In case of difficulty interested parties should contact the National organiser, Peter Dowse e-mail- young-writer@rotarygbi.org for assistance.

                                          

Entrants need to provide the information at the end of this Information Pack and submit it, with their text to the stage organiser at the time specified by the stage organiser. This could be printed on the back of the entry submission.

Youth Competitions     

This Young Writer competition is one of seven competitions organised by Rotary International Britain and Ireland for young people. The others are: Young Chef, Young Musician, Young Photographer, Youth Speaks the Young Citizens Awards and the Technology Tournament. To find out more about these competitions and other opportunities please contact your local Rotary Club or use the following link:

RIBI Youth Competitions

Working with Children

Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland has adopted this statement of policy in working with children, the vulnerable and those with disability.

The needs and rights of the child, the elderly, the vulnerable and those with disability take priority. It is the duty of every Rotarian to safeguard to the best of their ability, the welfare of and prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect of all children, the elderly, persons with disability or otherwise vulnerable persons with whom they come into contact during their Rotarian duties.

ENTRY FORM 2016 - 17

Please read this Information Pack before completing clearly.

Please Note;

The parent, guardian or carer of the entrant, when signing below has given permission:

·         For the named person to take part and be identified in the competition  Yes / No

·         Any entrant over 18 at the date of the competition should sign the declaration below.

·         For photographic/video records to be taken and used for Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) publicity purposes in printed, electronic and online formats.                Yes / No

·         In signing this form the parent/guardian/carer allows permission for contact by the RIBI, District and Club Public Relations Officers for public relations purposes.                                    Yes / No

Not agreeing to c and d does not preclude the individual from entering the competition.

Declaration by competitor is below, and parental consent should be written and signed on the reverse of the entry in the following manner:

I, …………………………………of ……………………………………………school/college,

Address:………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

            ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Phone number:       …………………………  e-mail: ………………………………………………………

I declare that this entry is entirely my own work.

My age on 31 August 2016 is ………………………date of birth:-........................................

Signed:……………………………………….Dated……………………………….

My local Rotary Club is …Brookmans Park………………………    District……1260……………

Copyright remains with the writer but submission authorises Rotary to use it for promotional purposes

“I give permission for this letter to be reproduced in any format and for the author’s likeness to be used for promotional purposes within Rotary” Any entrant over 18 at the entry date of the competition should sign this declaration below

Parent Guardian Carer Entrant          Please print name………………………………..

(Please tick status)

Signature………………………………….

Date………………………….