Creative Writing & Visual Arts Competition 2023

Lowestoft Town Council are delighted to once again be marking Black History Month.  For 2023, we are building on our regular writing competition with the introduction of a visual arts competition.  The introduction of this competition gives another opportunity for young people in and around Lowestoft to enter and celebrate inspirational BAME people.

Theme:

The theme for both competitions is “inspired and proud”.  This theme encourages participants to think about the people who inspire them and make them proud.

Age categories:

The two competitions will also share the same age brackets:

• up to and including year 2;
• Years 3 – 6;
• Years 7 – 11;
• Years 12 – 13.

Participants are welcome to enter both the writing and arts competitions.

Creative Writing Competition:

For our creative writing, our judges are welcoming entries across a range of writing formats – from poetry to dramatic monologues and short stories (anything that shows off your creative writing skills!).  Your entry could be inspired by a real person or include fictional characters.  Maybe you want to write a monologue for Martin Luther King before his iconic “I have a dream” speech, maybe you’d like to write a short story about your own made-up character, or maybe you’d like to write a poem about Lewis Hamilton – the choice is yours!

Our judges will be scoring your work based on creativity, originality and how well your piece is written.

Visual Arts Competition:

New for 2023 is our Visual Arts Competition.  For this, we are welcoming any art entry.  It could be a collage, sculpture, drawing, painting, graphic design – the more creative, the better!  Your entry could depict a real person or be inspired by a BAME artist.  Maybe you could do a collage that represents Rosa Parks, be inspired by the clay sculptures of Augusta Savage or the silhouette work of Kara Walker.

In this competition, our judges will be looking at your interpretation of the theme, how creatively you’ve used your chosen art medium, and the quality of the art/artistic skills on display.

Application Deadlines:

The deadline for submissions is Friday 20^th October.  Submissions should be submitted to admin@lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk.  These can be in the form of a picture of the work.  Submissions should include the child’s name, age category and school (if applicable).

Prize Giving:

Prizes will be given to the winner of each competition’s age category.  Our judging panel will also award an overall prize for each competition alongside a prize to the winning school.  The award ceremony is currently scheduled for Friday 3^rd November at 5pm (Venue TBC).  More details on this will be announced in the new academic year.

If you have any questions, please get in contact with us via admin@lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk

Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing your amazing creative writing and artistic skills!

Terms and Conditions:

1. The competition is open to all children who either a) attend a school within the Lowestoft area or, b) live within the Lowestoft Town Council parish area.

2. The judging panel will be formed from a selection of Town Councillor and representatives of external bodies.

3. The judges' decision will be final.

4. The Town Council reserves the right not to consider any applications felt inappropriate or which do not meet the criteria set out above.