Golden Sponge-Stick Comp 2012!

Are you a budding young writer?

Could you create the next Flavia Gemina or Falco?

Well, here's your chance.

Burgess Hill School presents to you a national writing competition for all UK and international school and college students, The Golden Sponge-Stick Competition.

To enter the quest for this coveted prize, please read on:

The story itself:
1. Your story should be a Roman story and based in Roman times. It can be set in any part of the Roman world. It can be either a Roman short story or a Roman mystery/detective story/thriller.
2. Your story should be an individual entry and written entirely by you. Please would a parent or guardian/carer sign your entry at the end or on the back to verify this.
3. Your story should not exceed 1500 words in length. Handwritten and typed entries are both welcome but please ensure that the handwriting is legible.
4. Knowledge of Latin is certainly not essential but you should display some historical research and/or knowledge of Roman daily life in you story. If you do study Latin then it would be excellent to use some in your story or dialogue.
5. Your story should have a clear, logical point, a set of characters, possibly including a hero/heroine and ideally a series of twists and a striking ending!

Please send your entries by email or post to:

Jerry Pine
Burgess School for Girls
Keymer Road
Burgess Hill
West Sussex
RH15 0EG

email: j.pine610 [at] btinternet.com

Good luck in your quest for the golden sponge-stick!

COMPETITION RULES AND DETAILS:

1) A panel of judges will choose the winning entries for each age category.
2) The age categories will be split into four:
ages 8 and below; ages 9-11; ages 12-13; ages 14 and above.
3) In each category three prizes will be awarded; the best in each will receive the prestigious golden sponge-stick. Other classical prizes including books and vouchers will be awarded.
4) Entries are welcome now and the closing date for all entries is Friday December 21 2012.
5) The judges reserve the right to keep all entries unless a stamped addressed envelope is included for return of your entry.
6) All winners will be notified of the result by Friday January 18 2012.

Note from Caroline: Although I am posting details of this competition here on my blog, it is run entirely by Jerry Burgess and is his invention. I can neither read submissions nor give advice, but I can point you to my WRITING TIPS page.

And three points of clarification:
1. The competition is open to children from all over the world, not just the UK. But the submission must be in English. 
2. The competition is open to home-educated children as well as those attending day or boarding schools.
3. The cut-off age is 18 (i.e. entrants should still be 18 years old on 31 Dec 2012)

I will be announcing the winners here on this blog in February 2013. Bona fortuna! Good luck!

P.S. If you don't know what a sponge-stick is, go HERE!
P.P.S. You could do this for NaNoWriMo for Kids! 

Golden Sponge-Stick Winners '11

Jeremy "Jerry" Pine has just sent me this notice, announcing the winners of the Burgess Hill School for Girls Golden Sponge Stick Competition for 2011! I would like to offer my congratulations to the winners and indeed to everyone who entered, a wonderful accomplishment in its own right! I will be posting excerpts over the next few days. Watch this space or subscribe to this blog!

The Prestigious Prize!

‘Natural Evolution’

 The competition attracted a record 357 entries this year, including 11 international stories (10 from USA, 1 from Australia).

 Again a pleasingly eclectic mix of schools and colleges participated. The general standard of entries was high, with some superb winning pieces. The backdrop of amorous slaves and feisty gladiators is always popular but in the fourth year of the contest the inspirational imagination of the writers has never been more effervescent. 

The destructive  force of nature was one of the major highlights with macabre tales of poisonous yew and humorous portions of stolen figs. Mushrooms were the next deadly delicacy to flourish as meticulous historical scholarship underpinned ‘At the setting of the sun’, based on Tacitus’ account of Agrippina’s plot. 

The prophetic power of portent was skilfully observed in ‘Omen of the Crows’, appositely summarised in Juvenal’s satirical observation ‘dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas’ (‘Censure acquits the crow, condemns the dove.’) 

One of the finest technical entries reviewed Pliny’s letters regarding Vesuvius in a highly articulate and original way.
Overall, there was an avalanche of creative energy from the 11-13 age group in particular. It would be gratifying to receive some responses from students under the age of 9 in 2012, as interest from  this quarter has not been sustained this year.

 The winners and placings are posted below. In recognition of the robust support of schools and colleges this year, three have been awarded prizes for a particularly outstanding contribution. Many others were distinguished and supportive, including the following : Berkhamsted, Cheadle Hulme, Emanuel, Ellesmere College,James Allen’s Girls, Oakham , Sancton Wood  and the exotically named Mountain High View from USA.

 Many thanks to all schools/colleges and students who participated in the competition. Let us hope that the contest continues to evolve in 2012, illustrating the positive dynamics of nature!


PRIZE WINNERS for 2011: 

 Over age 14 category: 
1. Rosie Hodsdon, The Abbey School, Reading. 
2. Claire Worthington, Blackburn College.
3. Adam Cunnane, Cheadle Hulme School.

11-13 age category:
1. Diana Luc, James Allen’s Girls’ School, Dulwich. 
2. Anna Hindmarsh, Stamford High School. 
3. Isabella Morris, James Allen’s Girls’ School, Dulwich. 

9-11 age category: 
1. Arabella Vickers, Godolphin and Latymer School, Hammersmith. 
2. Kathryn Warburton, Berkhamsted School.
3. Nirali Patel, North London Collegiate School. 

USA winner: 
Marina Macklin, Highland School, Warrenton, VA 20186, USA. 


Outstanding contributions for schools/colleges: 
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School.
Harrow School.
Merchant Taylor’s Boys’ School, Crosby.

Full list of participating schools and colleges.
(Note that some of the entries were home educated or did not indicate their school/college).
The Abbey School, Reading,  Berkhamsted School, Blackburn College, Cambridge International School, Abington, Cheadle Hulme School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Ellesmere College, Emanuel School, Battersea, Farlington School, Godolphin and Latymer School, Hammersmith, Harrow School, Highland School, Warrenton, USA, James Allen’s Girls’  School, Dulwich, Merchant Taylor’s Boys’ School, Crosby, Merchant Taylor’s Girls’ School, Crosby, Mountain View High School, USA, Nonsuch High School for Girls, North London Collegiate School, Oakham School, Old Palace School, Croydon, Redland High School for Girls, Red Maids’ School, Bristol, Sancton Wood School, Cambridge, Sir Joseph Williamson Mathematics School, St Gabriel’s School, Newbury, St James’ Senior Girls’ School, London, St Pauls’s Girls’ School, London, Stamford High School, The Maynard School, Exeter, The Read School, Selby, Warwick School and Wycombe Abbey School.

Special thanks : 

the artefact that started it all

As ever, my family, Burgess Hill School for Girls for its continued support with the project, particularly all the entertaining Burgess Hill School girls, my Classics supremo, Barbara Johns, Lorna Coward, Yudi Lowe and Judith Edey. Also for helping with publicity; the Association for Latin Teaching,  Cambridge School Classics Project, Classical Association (for sponsoring all the prizes), Classics Outreach, University of Oxford, Claire Davenport, Daisy Dunn (JACT), Friends of Classics, iris project, Graham Kirby, Lorna Robinson, Dr Cressida Ryan and David Swift.  A big thank you to Caroline Lawrence, who inspired the competition and Adrian Wink from armamentaria, who manufactured the Golden Sponge Sticks!

 Jerry Pine
Burgess Hill School for Girls 
17.02.2012

Golden Sponge-Stick Comp '11

A winner & a runner-up from 2010

Are you a budding young writer?

Could you create the next Flavia Gemina or Falco?

Well, here's your chance.

Burgess Hill School presents to you a national writing competition for all UK and international school and college students, The Golden Sponge-Stick Competition.

To enter the quest for this coveted prize, please read on:

The story itself:
1. Your story should be a Roman story and based in Roman times. It can be set in any part of the Roman world. It can be either a Roman short story or a Roman mystery/detective story/thriller.
2. Your story should be an individual entry and written entirely by you. Please would a parent or guardian/carer sign your entry at the end or on the back to verify this.

3. Your story should not exceed 1500 words in length. Handwritten and typed entries are both welcome but please ensure that the handwriting is legible.
4. Knowledge of Latin is certainly not essential but you should display some historical research and/or knowledge of Roman daily life in you story. If you do study Latin then it would be excellent to use some in your story or dialogue.
5. Your story should have a clear, logical point, a set of characters, possibly including a hero/heroine and ideally a series of twists and a striking ending!

Please send your entries by email or post to:

Jerry Pine
Burgess School for Girls
Keymer Road
Burgess Hill
West Sussex
RH15 0EG

email: j.pine610 [at] btinternet.com

Good luck in your quest for the golden sponge-stick!

COMPETITION RULES AND DETAILS:

1) A panel of judges will choose the winning entries for each age category.
2) The age categories will be split into four:
ages 8 and below; ages 9-11; ages 12-13; ages 14 and above.
3) In each category three prizes will be awarded; the best in each will receive the prestigious golden sponge-stick. Other classical prizes including books and vouchers will be awarded.
4) Entries are welcome now and the closing date for all entries is Friday December 16 2011.
5) The judges reserve the right to keep all entries unless a stamped addressed envelope is included for return of your entry.
6) All winners will be notified of the result by Friday January 13 2012.

Caroline with sponge-stick

Note from Caroline: Although I am posting details of this competition here on my blog, it is run entirely by Jerry Burgess and is his invention. I can neither read submissions nor give advice, but I can point you to my WRITING TIPS page.

And three points of clarification:
1. The competition is open to children from all over the world, not just the UK. But the submission must be in English. 
2. The competition is open to home-educated children as well as those attending day or boarding schools.
3. The cut-off age is 18 (i.e. entrants should still be 18 years old on 31 Dec 2011)

I will be announcing the winners here on this blog in January 2012. 
Oh, and if you don't know what a sponge-stick is, go HERE.
Bona Fortuna! (Good luck!)

[The 17 books in the Roman Mysteries series are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans, Greeks or Egyptians as a topic in Key Stage 2. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]