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Cambridge School of Creative Industries competitions

National Storytelling Week logo

National Storytelling Week 2021 competition

To celebrate National Storytelling week, ARU is again holding a storytelling competition for young people between the ages of 16-18 celebrating storytelling in all its forms.

Ever noticed how a single photograph can capture a story of more than 1000 words? Or how a spoken piece can make your hair stand on end?

We encourage submissions across all media - short story, poetry, music, spoken word, film, photography, graphic novels or illustration, animation and more. Keep it simple, keep it short, make it powerful. We want something that takes no more than 3 minutes to read, watch, or listen to.

Most of all tell us something. It may be about you, your concerns for today or for tomorrow. It could be a story about something else, a person, place or time. It might just be a story that needs telling.

Stuck for inspiration? Take a look at last year's winners.

Prize: £100 for the winner, 2 x £50 for 2 runners-up

Terms and conditions

  • The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom aged 16-18 years of age on 31/08/2021
  • Closing date for entry: Saturday 17 April 2021.
  • ARU reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible.
  • Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges selected by ARU.
  • The winner will be notified by email within 28 days of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or do not claim the prize within 14 days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
  • The winner agrees to the use of his/her name and image in any publicity material, as well as their entry. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
  • Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.

How to enter

Enter the competition by submitting your entry digitally via email to [email protected] by 12.00pm on 17 April 2021.

Written entries can be sent on a compressed PDF. For any larger files, please use an email transfer service such as WeTransfer - but please send us the link as well, in case their email does not reach us. You can also host your entry online on a personal website or a third party site or platform, such as YouTube or Instagram, and just send us the link to it.

Please also make sure to include your full name, address, date of birth, email address and telephone number.