McFly singer/guitarist and children’s author Tom Fletcher is giving his backing to Blue Peter’s latest competition offering budding young writers a “money can’t buy” prize.
The Amazing Authors competition, run in partnership with The Reading Agency and BBC Arts, opens for entries next Friday, January 27, 2023 and will ask young viewers to pen a short story or poem. The winning story will then be brought to life as a book and read by Tom as a CBeebies Bedtime Story.
Burgeoning young authors will need to come up with a brilliant main character – human, animal, or completely imaginary – who gets caught up in an amazing adventure.
Their work will then be turned into a book and an animation, creating a wonderful story brought to life by award-winning animation studio, Aardman, thanks to funding support from the Arts Council’s National Lottery Project Grants.
It will be read by Tom, both on Blue Peter and on CBeebies Bedtime Stories, and will even be available as a podcast on BBC Sounds.
As part of this once in a lifetime prize, the winner will also get to meet Tom and go behind the scenes at HarperCollins and Aardman to see how characters are illustrated and books are published before receiving a printed version of their story to treasure forever. They will also receive a framed picture from the animation and a Blue Peter competition winner’s Orange Badge.
Tom said: “I absolutely love sharing stories and books with my own children and seeing their eyes light up as they are transported into another world, so it’s brilliant to be part of the Blue Peter Amazing Authors Competition. I’m still enthralled by children’s books even as an adult, so it will be a real privilege to see what ingenious ideas and characters the kids themselves come up with.”
Blue Peter editor Ellen Evans added: “I’m so looking forward to reading all of the stories that are submitted from our viewers and I have no doubt there are lots of aspiring young writers out there with a huge amount of talent.”
The Amazing Authors competition is a collaboration between BBC Studios Kids & Family, BBC Arts and The Reading Agency. The Reading Agency is providing schools and libraries with resources and delivering a workshop to encourage children to enter and to give tips on how to get started.
McFly may have been out of the charts for several year since they took an indefinite hiatus in 2015, but the BBC are certainly not tired of them. Last week McFly drummer and Strictly Come Dancing winner Harry Judd hosted a special live event for BBC Tiny Happy People (https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/manchester-news/2023/01/mcflys-harry-judd-host-bbc-event-tiny-happy-people), while singer, guitarist, and Bolton Wanderers most famous fan Danny Jones was a finalist in 2002’s Celebrity Masterchef on the Beeb.
Suzy Klein, Head of Arts and Classical Music TV, said: “Cultivating a lifelong love of reading is central to what we do at the BBC and this competition is an opportunity to celebrate the next generation of brilliant writers. I can’t wait to see the stories our Amazing Authors bring to life and look forward to this wonderful showcase of reading and imagination.”
The competition is open for entries next Friday, 27th January 2023, when full details of how to enter, including rules and privacy notice will be on the Blue Peter website.
