Shayna Evans calls on community support as public
voting for children’s story-writing competition opens
A newly-wed trainee teacher
from Borehamwood has beaten hundreds of entries to be shortlisted in this
year’s Munch Time children’s story writing competition. Shayna Evans, 29, is
one of 10 regional finalists from across the country who now need your vote to
win the top prize of £1,000 in the annual search for a budding children’s
author.
Her story ‘Here Comes the Aeroplane’ can be seen
and voted for at www.munchtime.co.uk from 1st July. The rhyming tale features Munch the
Cow as she tries lots of new flavours and is aimed at parents wanting to
encourage their fussy eaters to eat a more varied diet.
Shayna said: “I am thrilled my story has been shortlisted.
I thought the competition looked fun and sat down for 20 minutes and the next
thing I knew I had 200 words, the story just flowed.“
The competition, by Munch Bunch® yogurts, is in its fifth year and is supported by the
National Literacy Association. It aims to highlight and celebrate the
importance of stories and creative time between young children and parents, and
gives amateur writers the opportunity to shine.
A previous Munch Time winning author has subsequently secured a
publishing deal and established successful careers in writing. The winner won't be the only one to win a cash prize,
three runners up will also receive £500.
In a recent survey* of parents
with children under five, Munch Bunch found that more than a quarter of UK
parents harbour ambitions to write a children's story. It also revealed 8 out of 10 admit struggling
to entertain their children, with over 70% citing running out of ideas, or
feeing too tired or too stressed as reasons.
Munch Time judge and chair of the National
Literacy Association, Ray Barker, says:
" Reading with your child is a beneficial and easy way to entertain
and we want parents to help foster a
love of stories with their children as early as possible. It's been proved time
and time again that children who are introduced to the joy of sharing books and
stories at an early age will be at an advantage when they start school. Making
reading fun is so important too and the great thing with Munch Time is that it
allows parents to discover great new stories to read with their young children.”
Vote now for your favourite Munch Time entry
and also receive an opportunity to win a prize at www.munchtime.co.uk. Voting will conclude at midnight on Thursday
1st August with the winning story unveiled shortly afterwards - watch this
space for the announcement!
Fans of Munch Time can also be part of the
story writing competition count down on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/munchtimestory
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