Black Isle writers take short cut to success with Eden Court competition
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Three winners rose to the challenge set by Eden Court of writing a short story in just 50 words.
The competition was held on Facebook as part of a programme of weekly challenges held while the building is closed.
The competitions were designed as a great excuse to get everyone in the household involved in creative activities during lockdown – as well as giving a chance to win some prizes.
For this competition, the prizes included a £20 Eden Court voucher and the opportunity to record and edit the winning short stories in one of the Eden Court studios when the building re-opens.
Eden Court was delighted to have Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre on board to judge the competition.
Rachel Humphries, Moniack Mhor centre director said: "It was our pleasure to read all the entries in both age groups – well done to all who took part, and many congratulations to the winners."
The under-16 joint winners are Archie Williams (7), Munlochy, for his story I’ve Lost My Cone, and Ali Taylor (13), Avoch, for his story The Hunt.
The judges said Archie's story was “A winning combination of words and pictures”.
He said: "It was really, really fun. I wanted to write a journey story. I love drawing. I love drawing food and I've drawn a lot of ice creams. I am now doing a 'draw along' challenge for my family every week. It was really hard because there was a lot to my story so I decided to do pictures to break down the words into smaller chunks."
The judges said of Ali's story The Hunt, it "had a real sense of atmosphere and tension”.
Ali said: “I have been visiting Eden Court for years for lots of different activities and I was very excited to enter this competition. This was a difficult story to write as I had to manage within the very small word count. I enjoyed writing the story, I’m very happy with what I ended up with and I am even more delighted to be one of the winners in this competition.”
The judges said about over-16 winner Amy Cameron from Inverness's story, She’s A Vegetarian: “Amy manages to squeeze a complete vignette into just 48 words. She presents a first-person viewpoint in a culturally specific context with additional characters, action, attitudes and reported speech... The humorous reveal at the end makes us wonder what happened next!”
Amy said: “Being a busy mum to a one-year-old, I loved the 50-word limit to this competition and how it forced me to get to the point. Using artistic licence, there’s an element of a true story in this piece so I’ll have to hope she finds the funny side!”
