Category : TV
Ent; 91Èȱ¬
THREE; Scotland
Date : 08.06.2004
Printable version
An avalanche
of more than 20 million words has swamped the 91Èȱ¬ making its End
of Story the most successful short story competition in the UK.
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Almost 17,000 entries have been received for the 91Èȱ¬
THREE project, which was launched in April.
In total, more than 300 bags of mail were received, weighing an estimated
1,330 kg.
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End of Story presenter Claudia Winkleman said:
"I visited the offices where the entries were being collected to
see for myself and couldn't believe this avalanche of words in front
of me.
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"I have to admit I'm gobsmacked by the level of
entries but also very delighted."
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Out of the eight top authors, who wrote the first half
of a short story for members of the public to complete, Alexei Sayle's
and Fay Weldon's tales appear to be most popular, though Ian Rankin's
rated highest amongst entrants from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
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Series producer Alison Black said: "End of Story
has exceeded all our expectations. It really seems to have tapped into
a creative drive to write across the UK."
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Independent assessor Paula Johnson, who is one of the
most respected figures in short story competition monitoring, said:
"For a new competition to attract quite this level of country-wide
response is exceptional."
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The entries will now be whittled down by a reading panel,
before a specialist panel of judges - including Muriel Gray, Giles Coren,
playwright and actor Kwame Kwei Armah and literary agent Carole Blake
- assess the final three per author.
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These three will be showcased in a series in the autumn
with each author then choosing their favourite.
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Notes to Editors
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Although not strictly speaking a short story writing
competition, the WH Smith Raw Talent award in 2002, which asked entrants
to write the first chapter of a novel with synopsis, attracted approximately
13,500 entries.
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The 91Èȱ¬'s Get Writing initiative received almost 4,000
entries for its Canterbury Tales competition.
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End of Story was launched on 18 April on 91Èȱ¬ THREE.
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In the wake of the programme, 20,000 End of Story books
– featuring the eight half short stories - were distributed across the
UK with clues provided on the website.
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The authors include Ian Rankin, Joanne Harris, Alexei
Sayle, Sue Townsend, Fay Weldon, Shaun Hutson, Marian Keyes and Ed McBain.
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91Èȱ¬ centres and phonelines were inundated by people
trying to get hold of a copy of the book, in advance of the stories
going live on 2 May on bbc.co.uk/endofstory
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More than 700 people attended End of Story workshops
around the country.
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Entrants were asked to submit a total of 1,200 words.
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The competition closed on 31 May.
