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The winner of our student writing competition is…… thumb

The winner of our student writing competition is……

This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.
 
Painting of rider, horses & dogChris Arthur reports on our recent creative writing competition. He set the task and judged the work that was submitted. The task was to use this image as a starting point for work. You can also read the winning story below.
First, let me say thank you to all who entered – I enjoyed reading what you wrote.  It was fascinating to see the variety of ways in which the painting fell upon people’s imagination and the different types of writing that were sparked as a result.
Entries ranged from a gnomic question of six words, through haiku, much longer poems, to self-contained pieces of prose of varying lengths, and an extract from a novel.  Genres represented included poetry, fiction, nonfiction and scriptwriting.
The problem with writing competitions is that whilst they label one piece “the winner”, by implication all the others are “losers”.  This is unfortunate.  Yes, it’s always pleasing to flag up good writing, accord it some mark of distinction and encourage its writer to write more.  But it’s unfortunate if, as a result, other writers receive a disincentive.  So, to try to minimize any negative implications, let me stress two things:

  • Deciding on a winner would only be easy if all the entries bar one were dire or mediocre.  This was very far from being the case.  The standard was generally high and there was a cluster of close contenders.
  • Selecting a winner is always subjective.  Different judges are likely to make different selections.  The winner is what impresses one person most at one particular time; it’s not an absolute/objective judgment on which everyone would agree.

Both from sampling student work and tutor reports, and from reading the work of those individuals I’ve tutored myself, I already knew that OCA has some fine writers on its books.  This competition has confirmed my positive impression.  There was lots of promising material submitted.  I hope everyone who entered will continue to work on their writing.
Since I met some students when I was co-tutoring the Arvon Foundation/OCA course in March, and since I would also recognize some names through what I’ve read as curriculum leader/tutor, I was keen to assess the competition entries blind.  I read all the submissions in hard copy and before doing so arranged for all trace of a writer’s identity to be deleted.  This meant that no one was put at any advantage/disadvantage through my knowing them/their work and having a point of view about their writing prior to reading the piece linked to the painting.  The absence of names also meant there were no clues about gender or ethnicity.
With the preamble done, I can now announce the winner.
Congratulations to Carlie Morgan for “The Future of the Past”, a brilliantly conceived futuristic story.  £100 of Amazon tokens will soon be winging their way to her.
Two final points: (i) Only a relatively small percentage of creative writing students entered the competition.  Does this indicate a lack of time or interest?  Or was news of it not brought insistently enough to people’s attention?  Feedback about this would be welcome as we weigh up the pros and cons of running another writing competition next year. (ii) Like any writing, competition entries need to be read and re-read carefully in order to make them as streamlined and error-free as possible.  I’d recommend reading pieces out loud as a way of identifying/remedying weak points.  It’s likewise helpful to put a piece aside for a few days/weeks and then return to it again with a fresh eye.  Several of the entries had a scattering of careless errors that might have been picked up with another careful reading through before being submitted.
Chris Arthur
www.chrisarthur.org
To view the story drag the bar on the right of the box to scroll down.

The Future of the Past, by Carlie Morgan


Posted by author: Chris Arthur

4 thoughts on “The winner of our student writing competition is……

  • Hi, I have not had chance to read the winning entry but did read through the announcement.
    You wanted feedback about why so few Creative Writing students entered. I can ONLY speak for myself (on my penultimate course for the Creative Writing Degree); with a full time job, busy family life and fitting in my coursework I read the competition details and thought about entering.
    And then my next assignment loomed, I had reading to do and work went mental. Simply put – life got in the way and even with reminders by email etc I would not have been able to keep all the balls in the air at the same time.
    Whilst we are all willing to sing the praises of the OCA and the opportunity to study and achieve our goals, time simply does not stretch and the stresses of life get in the way (I acknowledge with the flexible learning that the college allows this helps a lot and I wouldn’t be studying otherwise).
    I love the idea of a competition.
    My suggestion would be for a course focussed competition, based on one of the assignments within that course (i.e. Children’s Writing – a single story of 1500 words which would be submitted for assessment for the fifth assignment – submissions to be made post final assessment). In this way there would be less pressure, you have already done the work, the subject matter/submissions would be open and varied and because it was post assessment of your course you would have a polished piece of work to further enhance before you submit.
    What do you think?
    In this way you could build the idea of a yearly competition into the very fabric of doing the degree; it would become part of the culture of the OCA.
    Regards
    Phil

  • Hi Phil, thanks for the feedback. I think what you suggest is a good idea, and I will pass it on to the Chris Arthur (curriculum leader for creative writing) and see what he thinks. It is helpful to know that it is the time constraint that stopped you submitting. This is something that I think many OCA students would echo.

  • Hi Phil, it’s helpful to have your comments. I’m sure every writer knows what you mean about life sometimes getting in the way! Linking future competitions to specific courses is an interesting idea. This is certainly worth considering when we come to discuss what form things might take in future years. I think a competition can provide a useful spur to writing. The idea of building one into the culture of OCA strikes me as a good one. Thanks for the feedback. Best wishes, Chris

  • Congratulations Carlie, what a great story. I don’t think a sci-fi futuristic approach would have occurred to me from such a traditional picture. Well done.
    Re. the feedback request from Creative Writing students – I intended to enter the competition but have had to put my coursework on hold for a few weeks due to unforeseen events and in trying to catch up simply couldn’t meet the deadline. I will look out for future competitions though, I think they’re a great idea.

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