Closing Date for 'Cover Story' Primary School Literature Competition

Primary school pupils aged seven to 11 across the town will be busy putting pen to paper over the coming weeks in the hope of winning Booka Bookshop book tokens, as part of the contest run by Oswestry Library, in partnership with Oswestry Rotary Club and Oswestry LitFest 2016.

This year’s competition takes the theme of a book jacket design, inspired by the Waterstones’ Book of the Year, 'The Fox and the Star' by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Heather Rodenhurst, team librarian at Oswestry Library, said: “Our judge will be award-winning children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce. “Primary school pupils will be asked to dream up a cover for their perfect book, including an eyecatching jacket design and an irresistible blurb for the back cover.”

The competition will close on February 12 and first prize is a £30 Booka book token, a copy of The Fox and The Star and an invitation to Oswestry Library on Saturday, March 19 during Oswestry LitFest for a prize presentation with Oswestry Rotary Club’s president and author-illustrator, Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Winners of runner-up prizes of a £20 and a £10 Booka book token will also receive an invitation to the presentation.

Heather Rodenhurst and Stephen Thomas will meet during week commencing 22nd Feb to select a short-list of 6 entries from which Frank Cotterill Boyce will select the top three.

For more information about the Cover Story competition, contact Oswestry Library on 01691 677388 or email heather.rodenhurst@shropshire.gov.uk.

The Waterstones book of the year is Coralie Bickford-Smith's debut 'The Fox and the Star'.
Inspired by the poetry of Blake, Bickford-Smith’s picture-book fable about grief is awarded top prize for its ‘great physical beauty and timeless quality’.