The Elsie Locke Writing Prize 2012
Hundreds of students have taken advantage of this great opportunity to become a published author – and be paid for their work! Make sure your students take part, too.
The Elsie Locke Writing Prize commemorates Elsie Locke’s life, both as a writer and as a worker for peace, the environment, women’s issues, and community. The winner receives $400 and book tokens to the value of $100, together with a commemorative bookplate and certificate. The winning entry is published in a Level 4 School Journal.
The 2012 competition
Imagine your community has been devastated by a natural disaster. Then develop some ideas about what your rebuilt community should be like. Choose the best way to explain your ideas. The writing could be a letter to the editor, a blog entry, or a submission to the local council – and it should contain suggestions that meet the needs of both young and old.
Look for examples of editorials and letters to the editor in your local paper, and discuss suitable blogs on related topics that are of interest to your students. You could also look at the persuasive writing in the appendix of the Smokefree resource sent to your school in early 2011, Staying Smokefree: Te Noho Auahi Kore (pages 64–65). This resource is also available online at smokefreeschools.org.nz
Please emphasise to your students that the entry needs to be their own work.
Judging
Entries will be judged on the quality of the writing. The judges look for the following:
- original and innovative ideas
- the ability to organise and develop these ideas
- clear, coherent writing
- the use of language that best suits the writer’s purpose
- the ability to engage the reader and convey meaning.
To read the winning stories from the previous three years, download “War Games”(PDF1MB), “The Half-crown” (PDF1MB), and “Too Close to the Wind” (PDF 2MB), or check out the School Journal (4.3.09 and 4.3.10 and the Level 4 School Journal for October 2011) or see www.elsielocketrust.org.nz
Competition Rules
The competition is open to all students in years 7 and 8. Entries should be around 500–600 words (maximum). They may be handwritten. All work must be the writer’s own. Entries should arrive by Friday, 29 June 2012 and should be sent to:
Susan Paris
School Journal Editor
Learning Media
PO Box 3293
Wellington 6140
Download the entry form here (PDF 213KB)
If you would like to receive an email about the winning entry, be sure to include your school’s email address on the entry form.
Find out more about Elsie Locke and share her work with your students …
Elsie Locke, born in 1912, was the author of many books for children. She also wrote more than thirty stories for the School Journal. Her first, “The Secret Rescue”, was published in 1959 and her last, “A Present from Pudding”, came out in 2001, the year of her death. Find out more about Elsie Locke’s life in the School Journal, Part 4 Number 1, 2009 and at www.elsielocketrust.org.nz