The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals ‘Once Upon A Time’ Competition
The annual ALCS competition run as part of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals shadowing scheme was a great success again this year. For the 2011 scheme, we set the young shadowers the challenge of rewriting one of three popular fairytales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel. Author Meg Rosoff, who kindly agreed to judge the vast number of entries we received, commented: “I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun judging. The creativity and range of the entries was magnificent, and the only problem I had was trying to whittle the winners down to three.”
Meg eventually picked The Sinister Breadcrumbs, by 12 year old Lorna Cowan of Lenzie Academy, as the winner, and described her retelling of Hansel and Gretel as “funny, strange, wonderfully written and just…so…original. I know a great number of published adult writers who would kill for such a strong and quirky storytelling voice. A worthy winner.” You can read The Sinister Breadcrumbs on our website, www.alcs.co.uk/fairytales/, where you can also view entries from the runners-up.
The shadowing scheme of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals encourages young people in participating schools and libraries to read the books shortlisted for the two awards in the run up to the announcement of the winner in June. The scheme introduces children to top quality fiction and illustration, and to new writers, illustrators and genres, and encourages breadth and depth of reading. In 2011, almost 100,000 young people took part in the shadowing scheme. In his acceptance speech, the 2011 CILIP Carnegie Medal winner Patrick Ness called it “one of the most brilliant things I know of in the world of children’s books; it’s genius”.
Full details of the competition and winners are on our website at www.alcs.co.uk
‘The Network’and MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival
ALCS sponsored six talented young TV scriptwriters at ‘The Network’as part of the 2011 MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival in August. Aspiring scriptwriters Paul Christian, James Fletcher, James Hall, Callum Mitchell, Michael Lee Richardson and Hannah Salt were selected to take part from a huge number of applicants for their talent, ideas and skills.
‘The Network’ programmeis designed to give candidates the opportunity to learn directly from industry professionals. Now an annual event, it is held alongside the TV Festival in Edinburgh and allows young delegates to attend practical sessions aimed at arming them with the skills, knowledge, confidence and contacts to succeed in a career in television.
This year’s delegates had the opportunity to meet, work with and learn from leading creative industry figures such as scriptwriters, producers, programme schedulers and commissioning executives. Past contributors have included Hollyoaks producer, Paul Marquess, as well as Charlie Brooker, Chris Morris, Al Murray, The Inbetweeners’ James Buckley (Jay) and co-writer and co-executive producer Iain Morris, among others. For more information on past contributors, see here.
As an organisation that represents writers, ALCS is keen to engage with young people at the start of their careers, providing them with not only the opportunity to gain experience in the television industry, but also an understanding of the need to protect their rights throughout their careers and understand the wider value of copyright to all writers.
Two participants commented on how the scheme has helped them:
Callum Mitchell:
As an immediate result of ‘The Network’ I have been given the opportunity to spend some time with the writers and directors of Hollyoaks... (t)his promises to be a fantastic opportunity... I have also been offered an interview for the role of production runner for CBBC, a vacancy which was advertised through ‘The Network at work’ scheme.
Hannah Salt:
Being on ‘The Network’ was a game changer for me... My creative skills, script acumen and story-lining abilities were placed under real industry levels of pressure...Through contact with other like-minded or similarly interested young people I have an invaluable link to this personal resource for mutual support and advice. Also, due to some targeted networking, I have some really useful industry professionals as contacts I intend to follow up.
CopyWrite!
ALCS’ CopyWrite! programme was devised with the help of the National Schools Partnership (NSP) and aims to educate 11–14 year olds about copyright and intellectual property (IP). Designed to be used as part of the Key Stage 3 curriculum in English, Citizenship, Drama and ICT, the programme helps students understand why copyright is so crucial, and the dangers inherent in a ‘copy and paste’ culture.
What the Dickens?
As part of ALCS’ ongoing work with the NSP we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens by launching a new literature and creative writing programme in schools in January 2012.
‘What the Dickens?’ has been devised by ALCS in partnership with NSP to arm aspiring young authors with an excellent toolkit of creative writing techniques, which will ensure they’re clued up on copyright too. It uses classic Dickens tales to get pupils thinking about the difference between inspiration and plagiarism, and shows them how copyright can help protect their work.
Aimed at Key Stage 3 students, the resources are suitable for all abilities, with the lessons also adaptable for junior school pupils at Key Stage 2. The new programme ‘What the Dickens?’ will be accompanied by an online and interactive writing competition with some great, creativity-boosting prizes on offer.
Look out for further information soon at www.alcs.co.uk