As we find our children being educated at home & we are all having to adapt to monumental changes to our lifestyles; mono motorcycles have launched their very first Children’s Short Story Writing Competition for children aged 8-13 years (1st April 2020)

We are encouraging children from the biking community or children who have an interest in motorcycles, motorcycling or motorbikes in general to take part.

Each short story must be of 500 words or less, taking our lead from another successful & national writing competition.

All stories must be original & fiction only.

Entries open Weds 25th March & close Thurs 30th April at midday.

All stories must start with one of the following opening lines:

• The engine roared with the might of a lion, gears engaged, throttle opened and….clunk. It stalled!

• Racing round the apex, he saw the finish line. Then out of the corner of his eye…

• She swept her hair back from her face, oil smeared across her forehead. The torque wrench in her right hand…

• The sun was low, the bikes pulled away into the golden light & his final journey began.

• Each nut & bolt had been accounted for, so why wouldn’t it start. Then…

• “My bike won’t start, what have you done to it this time?”

• As mountains rose out of the landscape like giants sleeping in the snow; the bike engines softly echoed across the valley.

Full terms of entry, how to enter, etc are below.

Stay safe everyone & remember, we are #BetterTogether

All the best, Daniel & Katy, mono motorcycles

 

mono motorcycles Children’s Short Story Writing competition entry rules

1. The mono motorcycles Children’s Short Story Writing competition is organised by mono motorcycles, Funtington, Chichester, PO18 9DA.
2. Entry to this competition is open to persons who will be aged between 8 and 13 years on the 1^ST April 2020 who are full time residents residing in West Sussex or Hampshire.

Entries must be submitted by an adult (parent/guardian) on behalf of the child; this adult must have parental permission. This adult may be asked, with parental permission, to provide proof of age, identity & eligibility.

Entry will be in three age categories – ages 8 to 9 years (1^ST April 2020) 10 to 11 years (1^ST April 2020) 12 to 13 years (1^ST April 2020)

3. Entrants must write a fictional short story (of no more than 500 words in length)

The theme is based on motorcycles, motorcycling or biking & the story must use one of the opening lines provided below.

Entry is via the mono motorcycles business email address monomotorcycles@gmail.com.

The responsible adult submitting the story on behalf of the entrant, will be asked to provide the entrant’s name, gender, region & their age & ensure that they have parental permission to do so.

Opening lines for story entries

• The engine roared with the might of a lion, gears engaged, throttle opened and….clunk. It stalled!
• Racing round the apex, he saw the finish line. Then out of the corner of his eye…
• She swept her hair back from her face, oil smeared across her forehead. The torque wrench in her right hand…
• The sun was low, the bikes pulled away into the golden light & his final journey began.
• Each nut & bolt had been accounted for, so why wouldn’t it start. Then…
• “My bike won’t start, what have you done to it this time?”
• As mountains rose out of the landscape like giants sleeping in the snow; the bike engines softly echoed across the valley.

4. All stories should be submitted in English.
5. We can only accept stories which are 500 words or fewer. Entries must be made by submitting a Word document or copied & pasted into the body of the submission email.
6. Entries can only be accepted via email. Submission deadline is Thursday 30^th April at midday.

Note: For safeguarding purposes, no further communication will be had with entrants either via email & or post, during the competition period or once their story entry has been submitted.

8. Entry opens on Wednesday 25^th March 2020. Entry closes on Thursday 30^th April 2020 at midday. Submissions received outside of this time frame will not, under any circumstances be considered.
9. Entrants can only enter individually. Only one entry per person is permitted & the story must be wholly written by the entrant only. Stories cannot be written by more than one person.
10. Entries must be an original piece of fiction, no factual stories relating to real events & or events which have happened to the writer. Stories can feature well known public figures from present day or from history or use real-life experiences as creative inspiration, as long as the story remains purely FICTIONAL.

The entrant’s parent or guardian agrees that they have not used material or depicted events which have actually taken place or used the personal details of any living persons in the story. As the stories will be published it is important that entrants do not include any personal details about themselves. The entrant must not include their name in the title or body of the story; entries which do contain this information will be removed from the competition.

11. Entries cannot be returned so please remember to retain a copy. Unsuccessful entrants cannot be contacted in respect of their entry, so if you have not heard from us by the awards date of Friday 29^th May 2020, you have been unsuccessful.
12. All entries must be the original work of the entrant & must not infringe copyright in any shape or form.
13. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive, violent or any other unsuitable material; mono motorcycles reserve the right to disqualify entries containing such matter. Entries must be suitable to be published or used online for audiences of all ages. If the story has troubling content mono motorcycles may if required, take advice from the NSPCC & may subsequently refer the Troubling Content to the relevant authorities.
14. Entrants retain the copyright of their entries, however, their parent or guardian grant mono motorcycles a perpetual non-exclusive royalty-free licence to publish & post the entry online & on any other social media platforms.
15. Entrants agree in clause 14 that mono motorcycles may publish the stories on their website for the duration of 1 year, after which all names & attribution will be removed.
16. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

– Imagination
– Storyline
– Characterisation
– Language
– Enjoyment

21. Judging will take place by Miss Katy Mason (Former Secondary School English teacher, still on the DBS update) & Daniel Morris – Proprietor of mono motorcycles. Dependent on the amount of entries, other educators still under DBS guidelines, may be asked to assist with the judging of the stories. There will be an outright winner in each age group & two additional participant awards in each age range.
22. Judging will end by 25^th May 2020 & winners will be announced on Friday 29^th May 2020.
23. Prizes will include: A £10 Book Token for each outright winner in each age category. A congratulatory certificate for each winner & participant award’s in each age category. Each winning participant (3 entries in each category) will have their stories published on the mono motorcycles website (all surnames, ages & identifying attributes will be removed & no photographs of the winners will be used online) & more prizes are being sought at time of publishing the story competition.
24. mono motorcycles reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these Rules or brings mono motorcycles into disrepute.
25. mono motorcycles reserves the right to amend these Rules or cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.