Congratulations to long-term Folkestone resident Louise Peregrina who has scooped Folkestone StoryMap‘s short story competition winning £100 for her story Time and Motion.
The free to enter competition was open over the summer for short stories inspired by one of Folkestone’s most famous writers, HG Wells.
Time and Motion will now be recorded by an actor and join the six other stories located in the Lower Leas Coastal Park which are all accessible via QR codes.
Her story was partly inspired by her love of local history and the fact that HG Wells used to refer to Folkestone’s second now defunct funicular lift near his Spade House home as ‘his moving staircase’.
Louise, a grandmother of seven, was born in Folkestone and used to live opposite a library, often devouring a book a night and visiting the library by day in search of new books. It was only after retiring from a career in education that she’s been able to dedicate more time to her writing.
Her first children’s novel Gramps and the Shield Bugs is published 28 September. You can find out more about Louise a louiseperegrina.com.
Could you write the next addition to the Folkestone StoryMap? We are looking for a short story to add to our popular story trail in Folkestone. The story needs to have some connection to H G Wells, who lived in Sandgate at the turn of the 20th century.
H G Wells was a prolific writer and came to Folkestone for the sea air. He liked it so much he had a mansion built on Radnor Cliff, called Spade House, which is now a nursing home. While the house was being built he lived in two other houses on the same road.
While in Folkestone Wells wrote a great deal. The Sea Lady and Kipps both feature Sandgate and Folkestone.
We would like to extend Folkestone StoryMap to Radnor Cliff by adding a new short story written by a writer with a strong connection to Folkestone. You don’t need to live here to qualify – perhaps you went to school in the area, or holidayed here regularly as a child?
Your story needs to be between 500 and 2,000 words. The winning story will be read by an actor and accessed via a QR code on Radnor Cliff and our Folkestone StoryMap website.
Entry is free and open to people of all ages living in the town or district, or with a strong link to the town. Your stories need to have some connection to H G Wells and be geographically set in and around Radnor Cliff. It can be set in any period of time – past, present and future.
You have plenty of time to write your story – the deadline is July 9, 2022.
Closing date for receipt of all entries is at midday on July 9, 2022.
Stories must be between 500 to 2,000 words excluding the title.
The competition is free to enter and is open to anyone of any age who has a strong connection to the district. This includes anyone who lives in Folkestone and Hythe district, or who used to live in the district, or whose family are from the district, or who works in the district, or regularly used to/currently holidays in the district.
Entries are online only.
All entries should be in English.
Online entries should be submitted via the online entry page of the website: https://forms.gle/7htayckTn37sLvoj7. All online entries will be acknowledged by an automated email. Online entries should be in a PDF and should be no larger than 10MB. We also accept audio files though please accompany it with a PDF document.
Please format documents in 12 point Arial and double space with page numbers and the word count and title of the story at the top of each page.
If you are over 18: Entries will be read and judged anonymously; entrants’ names and contact details should only appear on the entry form and not anywhere on their stories/manuscripts. The stories/manuscripts must be free of all personal information about the author.
If you are under 18: Please put your name on the first page under the title.
We’re looking for original stories peppered with lots of humour. Your story can be of any genre but strictly no obscene or violent content. It can be set in any period of time and must be set in Folkestone and mention the Coastal Park.
Also consider your audience. The Coastal Park attracts thousands of families with young children. So though you don’t need to write your story for children, please think about use of language and suitability of content, as well as how well your story lends itself to being performed/read out by an actor.
You can enter no more than two stories.
Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online, or broadcast or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
If your entry has been long-listed or short-listed in other competitions, and provided it has not won a prize or been published, then it is eligible for Folkestone StoryMap.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome but please let us know if a story is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition as this will preclude you from winning prizes in the Folkestone StoryMap competition.
All entries will be read by a carefully selected group of experienced readers who will select at least seven winning stories. The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence will be entered into.
We will award each of the winners a cash prize, amount TBC.
Authors will retain copyright on their work.
Spade House, former home of H G Wells. Photo by Paul Ryan
We are so excited to launch the Folkestone StoryMap competition today! We’re looking for short stories from 500 to 2,000 words to be recorded by actors and accessed via QR codes throughout the town’s Coastal Park.
Entry is free and open to people of all ages living in the town or district, or with a strong link to the town. We’ll be holding a Zoom workshop soon if you want to find out more. We’ll announce details of that through our newsletter and on our social media profiles.
Stories need to be set in the town – and preferably the Coastal Park itself – but can be set in any period of time – past, present and future.
You have plenty of time to write your story – the deadline is July 15, 2020. Because of the Covid-19 lockdown effect, we’re unsure when we’ll be able to announce the winners, record the stories and award cash prizes but we’re hoping it will be sometime in the autumn.
Closing date for receipt of all entries is at midday on July 15.
Stories must be between 500 to 2,000 words excluding the title.
The competition is free to enter and is open to anyone of any age who has a strong connection to the district. This includes anyone who lives in Folkestone and Hythe district, or who used to live in the district, or whose family are from the district, or who works in the district, or regularly used to/currently holidays in the district.
Entries are online only.
All entries should be in English.
Online entries should be submitted via the online entry page of the website: https://forms.gle/x9Rzihi33n513dYw5. All online entries will be acknowledged by an automated email. Online entries should be in a PDF and should be no larger than 10MB. We also accept audio files though please accompany it with a PDF document.
Please format documents in 12 point Arial and double space with page numbers and the word count and title of the story at the top of each page.
If you are over 18: Entries will be read and judged anonymously; entrants’ names and contact details should only appear on the entry form and not anywhere on their stories/manuscripts. The stories/manuscripts must be free of all personal information about the author.
If you are under 18: Please put your name on the first page under the title.
We’re looking for original stories peppered with lots of humour. Your story can be of any genre but strictly no obscene or violent content. It can be set in any period of time and must be set in Folkestone and mention the Coastal Park.
Also consider your audience. The Coastal Park attracts thousands of families with young children. So though you don’t need to write your story for children, please think about use of language and suitability of content, as well as how well your story lends itself to being performed/read out by an actor.
You can enter no more than two stories.
Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online, or broadcast or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
If your entry has been long-listed or short-listed in other competitions, and provided it has not won a prize or been published, then it is eligible for Folkestone StoryMap.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome but please let us know if a story is to be published elsewhere or has won a prize in another writing competition as this will preclude you from winning prizes in the Folkestone StoryMap competition.
All entries will be read by a carefully selected group of experienced readers who will select at least seven winning stories. The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence will be entered into.
We will award each of the winners a cash prize, amount TBC.
We’d like to thank everyone for entering our first short story competition. We very much enjoyed reading your entries and appreciate your support.
Without further ado, we are pleased to announce that the winner is:
James Turner with his story entitled “13th May 2007”
We would also like to mention Barbara Woodhams, whose story had us in stitches and is thus Highly Commended.
James’ story will feature at both of our upcoming Storytelling for Grownups evenings, taking place in Folkestone (May 19th) and Faversham (May 20th). As his prize, James receives two tickets to the venue of his choice, plus a cut of the profit from both events.
We’d love to meet all the entrants (plus their extended family, friends, work colleagues, vague acquaintances etc), so if you’re free on either evening, tickets are available online or on the door:
We’re busy planning our next live storytelling event and we want you to be part of it! We’re looking for a new short story or monologue that we can perform at our May event, which will be taking place in both Faversham and Folkestone.
The rules are fairly simple (full Ts and Cs at the end of this post):
You need to live in Kent to enter
Your story or monologue must be no more than 2,000 words long
You must take your inspiration from our theme: “May”
You must submit your entry by midnight GMT on April 30th
The theme is purposely vague, to encourage a wide range of entries. Think: May Day, Mayday (as in SOS), May, Maybe, Theresa May. Well, perhaps not the last one…
Entries need to be in by April 30th. Please send an email to highfive@handofdoom.online with the subject “May Short Story Competition”. Please include your name, mobile number and story title in the email, but do not put your name on the story itself so that we can read them anonymously. The competition is £4 to enter.
The winner will have their story or monologue read at both events and receive a cut of the profits (sadly never massive, but it’s still payment for writing!). The winner will also get two free tickets for the venue of their choice (venues and dates to be confirmed shortly).
Quick! Get writing!
Full Terms & Conditions
Entries may take the form of a short story or monologue.
2,000 words maximum, no minimum. The title is not included in the word count.
All entries are judged anonymously: do not include your name on the document.
All entries should be on the loose theme of “May”. Interpret this as you see fit.
No erotica please.
Entrants may submit as many stories or monologues as they wish, as long as the fee is paid for each entry.
Entrants may withdraw entries from the competition by notification in writing; entry fees will not be refunded.
The deadline date for entries is 12 midnight (UK time) on April 30th 2017.
The Competition is open to writers residing in the county of Kent only.
Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and by submitting you are confirming that the work is your own. Any evidence to the contrary will result in immediate disqualification.
Entries must never have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast nor winning or placed in any other competition.
If your entry has been longlisted or shortlisted in other competitions, and provided it has not won a prize or been published, then it is eligible for the Competition.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed but will become ineligible should they win a prize or be published prior to the prizegiving date; entry fees will not be refunded. You must inform Hand of Doom Productions immediately should your entry be published or win a prize elsewhere.
Entries submitted posthumously will not be eligible.
The entry fee is £4 per story or monologue submitted payable via paypal.me/HandofDoom/4
Entries must be in English.
Entries to be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page.
Entries must show no name, address or identifying marks other than the title.
The filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, .wps, .pdf or .txt file.
Amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor substitutions made. If entrants wish to correct errors they must submit a new entry, marked ‘Final Version’ on the title page, and enter again with payment of the entry fee. No correspondence or discussion about amendments will be entered into.
Entries are confirmed by the email receipt of your payment to PayPal.
The winner will be contacted by the judges in early May. If you do not hear from us by the date of the first event, it means your entry has not been selected on this occasion.
Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but Hand of Doom Productions will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning story or monologue, (including Highly Commendeds), in any relevant promotional material.
The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into.
Judges are unable to comment on individual entries.
Judging is fair and unbiased. Experienced readers assist the named judges in selecting the shortlists.
The prize is a reading of the winning entry at two live storytelling events in Faversham and Folkestone. In addition, the winner will receive two complimentary tickets to the event of their choice, plus a proportion of any profit made from ticket sales.
Hand of Doom Productions reserves the right to amend these rules where it is deemed necessary to do so. Any changes to the rules will be posted on the Hand of Doom Productions website.
SUBMISSION OF ENTRY IMPLIES ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THE RULES
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We’re busy planning our next live storytelling event and we want you to be part of it! We’re looking for a new short story or monologue that we can perform at our May event, which will be taking place in both Faversham and Folkestone.