Category: competitions

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Winter 2011 Poetry Comp: THE WINNERS (Part 3)

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Here is the winning Under 7s story from our winter 2011 writing competition. You were asked to imagine waking up one morning to find you had grown wings—and to write a poem about it.

A reminder: always check the rules of the competition. If you don’t stick to the rules, we have to disqualify your entry and that makes us sad!

Under 7s winner: A Flack (WA)

WINGS

I woke up
One morning
And I had
Grown wings
I didn’t know
There were such things
Whizzing around
I flew high in the air
Then I found myself
Back in my chair
Then I was
Back in my bed.

Posted in competitions, info

Winter 2011 poetry comp: THE WINNERS (Part 2)

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Here is the winning Under 9s story from our winter 2011 writing competition. You were asked to imagine waking up one morning to find you had grown wings—and to write a poem about it.

A reminder: always check the rules of the competition. If you don’t stick to the rules, we have to disqualify your entry and that makes us sad!

Under 9s winner: M Watervoort (WA)

SURPRISE

The sun slapped my face
It gave me a fright.
Morning was here
Gone was the night.
I looked in the mirror
I turned my back
And what I saw
Gave me an attack!
Wings! Wings!
All on my back.
Six pairs of them.
What a six pack!

Posted in competitions, info

Winter 2011 poetry comp: THE WINNERS (Part 1)

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Here is the winning Under 12s story from our winter 2011 writing competition. You were asked to imagine waking up one morning to find you had grown wings—and to write a poem about it.

A reminder: always check the rules of the competition. If you don’t stick to the rules, we have to disqualify your entry and that makes us sad!

Under 12s winner: S Morgan (WA)

A STRANGE FEELING

It’s another Monday morning,
I feel like sleeping in.
I tossed and turned all night long,
Like I was being poked in the back with a pin.

My mother’s voice came down the hall,
Yelling ‘STUART GET DOWN HERE!’
I felt that I was too big for my clothes,
Like I was growing too fast, how queer.

I found two holes in my pyjamas,
Where my shoulder blades would cling.
I hover just above the ground,
Oh God—do I have wings????

Posted in competitions, teachers' resources

Kids Writing comp (NSW): Stuck at Home in my PJs

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Closing date: 19 August 2011.

Here’s a competition open to NSW students aged 12 and under. Write a story called ‘STUCK AT HOME IN MY PJs’.

Prizes include having your story published on the Asthma Foundation NSW website, a signed book by Libby Gleeson, and being invited to read your story at a morning tea where you will meet Libby Gleeson and also hear her read from one of her books. (There are also prizes for school groups.)

Closing date: 19 August 2011.

For competition entry details, visit the Asthma Foundation NSW website. Good luck!

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Alphabet Soup’s winter 2011 writing comp

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

WINTER 2011 WRITING COMPETITION – WIN A $20 BOOK VOUCHER (& see your poem here on the blog)

Entries close 29 July 2011

Imagine that you wake up one morning and you have grown wings. Using this idea, write a poem up to 12 lines long (shorter is fine).  

Include a competition entry form. This may be printed from the website (see competition rules), photocopied, or contact us to have one emailed or posted to you.

Your entry can be handwritten or typed.  Make sure you read the competition rules!

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2011 CJ Dennis Poetry Competition

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Closing Date: 7 September 2011

Write a piece of original verse, based around an Australian theme or C J Dennis. Verse must have good rhyme and metre. Cost of children’s entries is $2 per poem. Entries open to children from anywhere in Australia.
Children’s Categories:

First Prize $20 plus a book prize
Second Prize $10 plus a book prize
Third Prize $5 plus a book prize

Download your entry form & conditions for entry via the Toolangi & Castella website. (Make sure you download both PDFs, not just the entry form.)

 

Some interesting information:

CJ Dennis was born in South Australia in 1876, but he moved to Toolangi in the wooded hills east of Melbourne in 1908. It became his home for the remaining 30 years of his life, and he wrote all the books for which he became famous in or near Toolangi. (You might remember his poem, ‘The Triantiwontigongolope’ which we published in issue 3 of Alphabet Soup magazine.)

In 2008 a festival was held at ‘The Singing Gardens’ to celebrate the centenary of CJ Dennis’ arrival in Toolangi. It was a great success, and has now become an annual event. This year, it will be held on the weekend of November 12 – 13. The closing date for entries to the poetry competition is 7 September (CJ Dennis’s birthday).

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Kids’ writing comps

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

"hand writing"Here’s an up-to-date list of current Australian writing competitions for kids. Apart from the magazine’s writing competition, Alphabet Soup doesn’t have an affiliation with these competitions. Make sure you read each competition’s Terms and Conditions (i.e. rules).

Good luck!

Australia-wide:

Dorothy Mackellar Poetry Awards (Closes 30 June 2011)

Sally Odgers Aussie Schools Writing Contest (Closes 30 June 2011)

Alphabet Soup‘s winter 2011 poem comp (Closes 29 July 2011.)

Pilot Pen Creative Writing Scholarship writing comp (closes 31 July 2011)

WA:

The West Australian Young Writers Contest (closes 30 June 2011)

Randolph Stow Young Writers Awards 2011 (Only open to Geraldton area. Closes 8 July)

Write a Book In a Day (Teams must complete the challenge by 31 August 2011)

NSW

Sydney Youth Writing Competition (closes 21 June 2011)

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Do you know of any other writing competitions for kids?

Posted in competitions, info, teachers' resources

Design a cover comp (tips!)

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

As you know, Alphabet soup runs an annual cover-design competition. The 2011 competition is now open and entries close 16 September 2011. Here are the covers done by our 2009 and 2010 winners, K Larson and A Hatton:

"Issue 5 cover (winner of 2009 design-a-cover comp)""Alphabet Soup magazine issue 9 cover"

Aren’t they brilliant? Yes! And now we need a cover for our summer 2011 issue.

We know you are busting to get to it, so here are some tips for all you budding artists.

COMPETITION DETAILS

Using any materials you like, design a cover for Alphabet Soup magazine.

Important – your artwork must be on one side of a sheet of white A4 paper. Make sure the paper is portrait orientation. Do NOT include the Alphabet Soup logo.

You may eneter as many times as you like, but each entry must have a competition entry form with the declaration signed by you and a parent. (Entry forms can be printed from the website, or contact us to have one sent to you.)

The winner’s artwork will be used on the cover of the summer 2011 issue of Alphabet Soup magazine (out in November 2011), and the winner will receive one copy of the summer 2011 issue and art supplies worth $20.

The theme for the cover is: MEDIEVAL.

Artwork can be realistic, or abstract, or collage, or cartoon-like, or any style you choose. It must be your own work and it must be original (no tracing pictures!). Remember that the magazine’s readers are aged 6 to 12.

If you’d like some more info on Medieval life, ask your parents if you can check out these sites:

Remember that our covers don’t usually have a lot of unused white space. If you draw one item in the middle of the page and nothing else, it would be tricky for us to turn it into a cover for the magazine!

There will be one winner chosen. By entering the competition, you agree to us using your artwork on the cover of the summer 2011 issue of Alphabet Soup magazine. We cannot return entries.

Download an entry form from the Alphabet Soup website.

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Posted in competitions, info, teachers' resources

Autumn 2011 writing comp: THE WINNERS (Part III)

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

"Boy writing © Greg Mitchell"Here is the winning Under 7s story from our autumn 2011 writing competition. You were asked to write a story about something to do with cooking.

A reminder: always check the rules of the competition. If you don’t stick to the rules, we have to disqualify your entry and that makes us sad!

Under 7s winner: O Small (WA)

THE BALLISTIC CHEF

Once there was a chef, a crazy chef. He was so crazy that if someone ordered pizza he would give them pasta instead. But one day he said “I’m going to make myself a coffee. I love coffee it’s my favourite thing.”

So he went to the cupboard and got out what he thought was coffee beans. The milk was real, but the coffee beans were really poisonous sultanas.

“ARGOOWY!!!!! I used the poisonous sultanas” and he flew up to heaven never to be crazy again, still wearing his chef’s hat.

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Enter our winter writing competition. Entries close 29 July 2011.