You may already have read about our Moving Stories project in the latest edition of Writing in Education. We are pleased to announce this further addition to the project as follows.

Any submissions to Moving Stories made prior to the site launch* will be entered into a competition, the prize being a one week writer's retreat at Wolfson Cottage in the grounds of Shandy Hall, North Yorkshire.

You can find more information about Wolfson Cottage at http://www.let.uu.nl/~Peter.deVoogd/shandean/wolfson.html

Shandy Hall is where Laurence Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy and exploded the notion of what a narrative might be. As part of our plans to develop Shandy Hall as a centre for the study and development of narrative construction, we are launching this competition as an annual event. The theme or focus will vary in future years but this time we felt it appropriate to link the competition with the Moving Stories project.

About Moving Stories:

This year is the 200th anniversary of the world's first steam locomotive journey and, as part of its bicentennial celebrations, the National Railway Museum has joined forces with NAWE and KMA Interactive Media to create a special website called Moving Stories. Anyone will be able to add their own writing to the Moving Stories website and it promises to be the the first truly international online writing event with such popular appeal. Everyone has stories to tell about journeys they have made, momentous or merely anecdotal. But this is also the chance to set off on imaginary journeys and see them come alive for other readers on the web. We'll be looking for social history, essays, short stories and poems - anything that expresses the train's impact on people's lives. Travellers' stories from around the world will be collected on the Moving Stories website where they will join forces with a range of historical and literary contributions from Dickens to Paddington Bear.

Starting on 10 May and continuing throughout the following month, Ian McMillan will be writer-in-residence, highlighting new contributions to the site and providing an ongoing editorial. Afterwards, the best contributions will be archived into a permanent collection.

NAWE Patrons Beverley Naidoo and Gillian Clarke are amongst the writers already contributing to the site.

Rules of the Competition:

Although the Moving Stories site can accept contributions of any length, for the purposes of this competition we are restricting the length of any one entry to 1500 words. There is no minimum length. Entries may be in any style or form but there must be some evident connection with the Moving Stories theme.

Copyright remains with the author but NAWE is granted permission to publish any or all submissions on the Moving Stories site and its resulting, permanent online archive.

Submissions may be made either by post to the NAWE office (PO Box 1, Sheriff Hutton, York YO60 7YU) or by email to paul@nawe.co.uk

Submissions should consist of a document (either .doc .rtf .txt .cwk or paper copy), which should be clearly titled but not bear the name of the author. The title together with the author's name should be provided in a covering letter or email message.

The principal adjudicator is Patrick Wildgust, Curator at Shandy Hall.

The prize is the free, exclusive use of Wolfson Cottage at Shandy Hall, North Yorkshire, between Monday 15 November 2004 and Saturday 20 November 2004. The cottage will be available at anytime from the Monday morning and must be vacated by Saturday afternoon.

* The Moving Stories site launches on 10 May 2004 but submissions will only be entered into the competition until 5pm Friday 7 May 2004.