What does the future of water look like? This is the question at the center of an international writing competition for children and young people between the ages of 9 and 17. The competition, organized by FAU and the University of Birmingham, calls on young writers to explore their ideas in short stories written in English. The deadline for submission is Wednesday September 30.
International competition invites young people to try their hand at creative writing
Young writers are invited to submit a piece of prose of between 500 and 1,500 words. There are no restrictions on content: the focus is on personal ideas, questions and visions all about the role water might play in the future. The aim is to encourage a creative approach to a topic that will become increasingly important in the future when faced with global climate and water crises.
The competition pursues two main aims: Firstly, to inspire critical engagement in young people and encourage them to think about issues concerning the environment and the future. Secondly, the submitted stories will provide the basis for a research project by doctoral candidate Andreas Wagner in FAU’s Text and Language Lab under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Michaela Mahlberg. In his project, he will investigate how young writers think and speak about water and future environmental scenarios. The competition is being funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
All details on the competition and submitting entries are available online:
www.dhss.phil.fau.eu/research/current-projects/our-future-our-water-our-stories
Further information:
Andreas Wagner
Department of Digital Humanities and Social Studies
andreas.w.wagner@fau.de