for young people aged 9 to 19…
Accord Literary and The Rock Retreat are collaborating with schools internationally to work together on an exciting global writing project.
Our goal is to link up junior writers to create a joyful and creative writing group to share the writing journey with a cohort of writing peers from around the world.
We are working with schools in Accra, Uk, Bermuda and Gibraltar to offer young writers the opportunity to create work and share their ideas in this exciting writing competition. We are interested in working with young writers across all genres from fiction to poetry, non-fiction to graphic novels. All story-telling expressions are welcome and and encouraged.
Accra in Ghana is UNESCO World Book Capital 2023 and to celebrate that Accord Literary and The Rock Retreat, with the support of Kusuma Trust and Gibraltar Cultural Services are creating a global writing project and competition that launched in Gibraltar on the 23rd February 2023.
Enjoy these 9 videos from the brilliant authors and creatives who joined the workshops in Gibraltar. Their insights will help you with your storytelling submission…
The work that is created during the sessions will be eligible for submission to the Rock Accord Competition. Entries will be judged by an international panel of authors and prizes will be awarded during The Accord Festival of Children’s Literature in Accra, Ghana May 2023.
COMPETITION TOPICS
Enjoy these writing prompts with a focus on community, friendship and caring for ourselves, each other, and the wider community in which we live.
GROUP 1 younger
1. Write a story about a magical ring that can grant your wildest wishes. But the time comes when the wishes run out. What do you wish for? Where do the wishes take you? What happens when the wishes run out? Are you happy or sad?
2. Write about someone in your community who you think is special. What is it that makes them stand out? What makes them different to other people around them? Why do you admire them?
3. Imagine you have a superpower. Describe your superpower and how it works. Write about how you use the superpower and how it affects people around you? Think about things like if you are happy to have the superpower and if you are the only person that has these abilities
GROUP 2 older
1.Think about a person who is 70 years old and they have an encounter with a 15 year old. What has happened to bring your two characters together? Think about how the two characters may differ but also about the things that they share. If they are neighbours how would they interact or if they came from very different places might they have to learn about each other? Sometimes opposites attract and age is not a barrier to friendship but sometimes people’s life experiences can make it hard for them to listen to one another. Think about your characters as individuals rather than as representing the values of their group. It can be a lot of fun to turn ideas on their head.
2. Imagine that you wake up one morning and find a new door in the wall of your bedroom. You peer through the keyhole – what happens next? Think about what sort of world exists on the other side of the door – what sort of place is it? Who lives there? Who is in charge? Is it a utopia or dystopia?
3. Imagine you have been put in charge of your hometown. You get to make all the rules and decide everything that is going to happen. What would you do? How do you think people would react? Does everyone agree with you? How would you manage all the changes you want to put in place? Start your story by writing a manifesto of your five priorities and then imagine sharing these with your community.
Judges
Ele Fountain is the author of five award-winning best-selling middle grade, young teen titles. Ele’s books are wonderful adventures concerned with important issues. She is a writer whose skill in creating powerful characters alongside meaningful and important themes offer her readers engaging stories that explore matters of importance to young people. Ele lives in Hampshire, England with her husband and two daughters.
Jonathan Pizarro is a Gibraltarian writer and teacher living in London. His short fiction has featured in Popshot, Litro, Queerlings, and Untitled: Voices, amongst others. He has been shortlisted for the Aurora Prize, and the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. He studied Creative Writing at Brunel University, where he was mentored by Bernardine Evaristo. In addition to fiction, he writes ‘Chasing Nelson’, a fortnightly column for The Gibraltar Chronicle that discusses Gibraltarian art and culture. He also facilitates popular writing courses with Out On The Page. He is working on his first novel, set in the Gibraltar of 1995.
Ayesha Harruna Attah is the author of several books for both adults and young adults. Her book for teens, THE DEEP BLUE BETWEEN, set in West Africa and Brazil has been translated into seven languages. Ayesha lives in Senegal with her husband and son and when not writing she can be found making and selling icecream from her ice-cream parlour just outside Dakar. The judges decision will be final.
There will be no correspondence with young writers directly (except an automated reply acknowledging receipt of the received entry) All submissions are to be sent to us via the enrolled school or directly to the submissions email before midnight GMT 31st March 2023.
HOW THE PROJECT WILL WORK
Deadline – Midnight GMT March 31st 2023 for all work to be submitted to Accord Literary and Rock Retreat via the submission email ellie.dobbs@icloud.com or request via the email to WhatsApp. Each submission to clearly state the author’s name, age, school and the topic.
27th May 2023 Awards Ceremony
To celebrate Accra being World Book Capital we shall have an award ceremony during the city wide festival with prizes given to young writers and illustrators from each participating region and age group.
The winning and commended pieces of writing and illustrating will be published in the Rock Accord Anthology 2023. Your winning work will be broadcast on national TV and radio and featured in a short film about this brilliant competition.
GOOD LUCK!
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