TAF2022 | CHILDREN’S SHORT STORY COMPETITION

THE TAF FOR KIDS

CHILDREN’S SHORT STORY COMPETITION

2022/23 THEME: AGATHA CHRISTIE IN TASMANIA

ENTRIES DUE 20 FEBRUARY 2023

TARWF and Libraries Tasmania are pleased to announce the TAF2022 Children’s Mystery Short Story Writing Competition

For all young writers to age 16.

Entry is free. Up to two entries per person.

This year’s prize: BE PUBLISHED BY LIBRARIES TASMANIA


Competition Opens: Monday 17 October 2022

Entries Due: By email, 6 pm Monday 20 February 2023, to tasmania.reads@education.tas.gov.au

Winners will be announced on Thursday 9 March 2023, in Tasmania Reads week.

PRIZE

Thanks to our wonderful new partners at Libraries Tasmania, the category winners and a selection of shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology by Libraries Tasmania and added to the state library collection.

You may be able to borrow a book from the library with your own story in it!

MYSTERIOUS TASMANIA…

Agatha Christie visited Tasmania exactly 100 years ago.

She loved it so much she said she hoped to move here one day.

If she had, what marvellous mysteries might she have written that were set in her new home of Tasmania?

Let’s find out!

For this year’s competition, imagine that you are Agatha Christie, and write a mystery short story set in Tasmania.

You can take any of her stories as inspiration and let your imagination run wild.

Will you write a new first chapter for Murder on the Orient Express, set on the Ida Bay Railway instead?

Poirot Investigates Hobart, perhaps?

Or, Miss Marple Enquires on the Apple Isle?

You don’t have to use one of Agatha Christie’s characters. Feel free to make up your own detective, but make them solve a mystery in Tasmania.

The winning stories in each category, and a selection of shortlisted entries, will be published in an anthology by our new short story competition partners, Libraries Tasmania, and added to the state library collection.

CATEGORIES

Up to Grade 2 - up to 250 words

Grades 3 and 4 - up to 500 words

Grades 5 and 6 - up to 2000 words

Open to the age of 16 (i.e. the entrant may be any age up to 16 on 31 December 2022) - up to 3000 words

 WHO CAN ENTER?

While children (of any age up to 16 on 31 December 2022) who normally live in Tasmania, full time or part-time, are encouraged to enter, there are no limitations on the location of the young writer.

We’d love to see entries from all around Australia, and overseas, again in 2022.

HOW TO ENTER

 

All entries, consisting of an entry form and the story in a Word document, must be submitted by 6 pm Monday 20 February 2023 by email to:   

tasmania.reads@education.tas.gov.au

Please see below for full terms, conditions and entry requirements.

ENQUIRIES


Please direct any enquiries to: tasmania.reads@education.tas.gov.au

If you don’t receive confirmation by Tuesday 28 February 2023 that your entry has been received, please email felicity.lemon.tarwf@gmail.com - see Note at the end of the Terms and Conditions below for more information.

RESOURCES

A range of resources is provided below.

Please note that all resources provided will be for parents, guardians, teachers and older independent writers.

Parents and teachers will work with younger children to help them understand the material at an age appropriate-level.

The most important tip is to start today!

Prepare to Write Your Story

Some important things to think about include:   

Who is the main character in your story?

·       Are they a private eye or an amateur sleuth? Is it someone inspired by Miss Marple, Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence or someone else?

What is your main character investigating?

·       What is the mystery?  

What part of your story might have been written by Agatha Christie if she lived in Tasmania?

·       To enter this competition, your story must include a mystery set in Tasmania.

·       Where is your story set?  

How does your story flow?

Most stories have a beginning, a middle and an end.

It’s good think about:

·       What is your main character trying to do at the beginning of your story?

·       What helps them along the way to do that?

·       What gets in the way of them doing it?

·       Where does their story end? Do they solve their case? Does a criminal get away?  

Theme – for more advanced writers

·       Is there a reason you want to write this story?  

·       Do you want to write a story about honesty or integrity or loyalty? Or maybe the excitement of a good investigation?  

·       How do you want someone who reads your story to feel, or what do you want them to think about, when they finish reading it? 

Read Other Stories for Inspiration

 

This is a list of books that contain detectives or sleuths solving crimes, mysteries or puzzles.

Some of them, marked with an asterisk, also contain some form of crime scene investigation or forensic analysis.

Reading one – or more – might give you some inspiration for your story.

·       Andi Boggs series by Amanda Flower, ages 6 to 8: Andi Unexpected , Andi Under Pressure , Andi Unstoppable

·       Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, ages 12 to 18 (Australian)

·      A Clue for Clara by Lian Tanner, ages 6 to 8 (Tasmanian)

·      Cinnamon Stevens series by Pauline Hosking (Australian)

·      *Dying to Tell Me by Sherryl Clark, ages 10-14 (Australian) 

·      EJ12: Girl Hero series by Susannah McFarlane, ages 6 to 8 (Australian)

·      Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer, ages 10-14

·      *Escape from Passing Winds (A Private Detective Series for Kids Book 1) by Blair Denholm, ages 9 to 12 (Tasmanian)  

·      Every Breath series by Ellie Marney, ages 12 to 18 (Australian)

·      The Finder by Kate Hendrick, ages 12 to 18 (Australian)

·      Friday Barnes, Girl Detective series by R.A. Spratt, ages 9 to 12  (Australian)

·      The Girl in the Mirror by Jenny Blackford (Australian)

·      The Girl with the Gold Bikini by Lisa Walker (Australian)

·      A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson, ages 12+

·       JJ Halo series by Juliette Davies (Australian)

·       Juno Jones series by Kate Gordon (Tasmanian)

·       Kensy and Max series by Jacquie Harvey, ages 9 to 12 (Australian)

·      *Lizard’s Tale by Weng Wai Chan, for ages 9+ (New Zealand)

A teaching resource for Lizard’s Tale, which won New Zealand’s 2020 junior fiction book award, may be found here:

http://static.booktopia.com.au/pdf/9781925603910-1.pdf

·       Murder Most Unladylike Mystery series by Robin Steven, ages 9 to 12

·       Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene, ages 6 to 8

·       Phyllis Wong series by Geoffrey McSkimming (Australian)

·       A Pocketful of Eyes by Lili Wilkinson, ages 12 to 18 (Australian)

·       Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, ages 9 to 12

·       Stella Montgomery Intrigue series by Judith Rossell: Withering-by-Sea , Wormwood Mire, Wakestone Hall, ages 9 to 12 (Australian)

·       Trixie Belden series by Julie Campbell Tatham, ages 6 to 8

·       Truely Tan series by Jen Storer (Australian) 

·       Virals by Kathy and Brendan Reichs – both the first book in a series and the name of the series, ages 9+

For further inspiration, click here to read the shortlisted and winning entries from last year’s competition!

Mystery Writing For Kids

 

·       For a fantastic guide to helping kids write a mini-mystery, click here. 

·       For one fourth grade teacher’s guide to teaching mystery writing to her class, click here.

CSI For Kids

 

If your mystery includes a crime, and the investigation of a crime, please find links to resources on crime scene investigation (CSI) methods below.

This information can be used as a jumping-off point for teachers, parents/guardians and older students alike. 

·       Forensic Science (BTN):

 https://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/forensic-science/10531992 

·       CSI : Who Did It? (PBS Learning): https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/idptv11.sci.life.gen.d4kcsi/crime-scene-investigation/ 

·       Forensic Science and CSI for Kids (Home Science Tools):

 https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/about-forensic-science-csi-for-kids/ 

·       Crime Scene Investigation Articles (Kids Ahead): 

http://kidsahead.com/subjects/10-crime-scene-investigation/articles 

DATES AND FACTS TO REMEMBER

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 1.     All entries must be submitted by email. 

 To:   tasmania.reads@education.tas.gov.au

Subject: CHILDREN’S SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Due Date:  6 pm Monday 20 February 2023

No paper entries will be accepted. 

All emailed entries must have two attachments:  an entry form and the story.

2.     Fill out the form by typing into the document online with an Adobe PDF reader, or print out Page 1 and fill it in, then scan it or take a picture of it with a phone and email it to us with the attached short story.

If you’re unable to fill out the form, please see Page 3 of the form.

3.     Stories must be typed, using Times New Roman 12 pt font. Please submit your stories as Word documents.

You must not have your name or the child’s name anywhere in the story document, only in the entry form. Entries will be judged anonymously.

If your child is not able to type their story, you may enter their handwritten story by scanning it to create an electronic document (PDF).

Scanned documents must be clear and legible. Documents that cannot be read easily will not be considered. 

4.         There is a limit of two stories per child, each to be submitted separately.

5.         Shortlisted and winning entries will be published. By submitting you are agreeing to have the story published by TARWF and Libraries Tasmania, in book format, online, or both. This is non-exclusive, that is, the story remains your property and you may also publish it elsewhere.

6.         There is no cost to enter.

7.         There will be no extensions.

You are strongly encouraged to submit stories ahead of time, not at the last minute. 

As good writing practice, you should aim to finish your story at least one week before the deadline and only revise/edit it in the last week.

We hope you enjoy writing your stories. 

Note:

  • While there are no extensions, if you try to email in an entry before 6 pm Monday 20 February 2023 and something goes wrong with your computer or internet connection, please don’t worry.

  • Take a screenshot or photo to show the time on the screen and what has gone wrong, and contact felicity.lemon.tarwf@gmail.com to let us know. 

  • You will first receive an acknowledgement of your entry from tasmania.reads@education.tas.gov.au , after you submit it.

  • By COB Monday 27 February 2023, you will receive a second confirmation email from felicity.lemon.tarwf@gmail.com to confirm that your entry has entered the judging process.

  • If you don’t receive the second confirmation by Tuesday 28 February 2023, please then email felicity.lemon.tarwf@gmail.com with any queries.

  • Winners and shortlisted entries will be notified by Thursday 9 March 2023.

  • Libraries Tasmania will advise the timeframe for publishing the winning and shortlisted stories then.