Candy Gourlay shares creative top tips for children who want to enter her writing and drawing competition

Published on: 13 May 2019 Author: Candy Gourlay

Candy Gourlay, Writer in Residence for BookTrust, is here to remind you about her brilliant competition for primary schools – and has plenty of inspiring ideas to help get children started. 

Calling all primary schools – fancy some fun that could win you a prize? Author Candy Gourlay has just the drawing or writing activity for your class!

Candy Gourlay's Windows Into Other Worlds competition is all about encouraging children to draw or write about a book that has given them a window into another world (using the downloadable graphic on the competition page): all for a chance to win some lovely books. 

More about the Windows Into Other Worlds competition

Ideas and questions to ask

In the video below, Candy explains that every child is different, and some will prefer writing their entries while others will want to draw. 

Candy goes on to draw a few different ideas herself, based on three different books – You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Poonam Mistry, Tall Story by Candy herself, and You Can't Make Me Go To Witch School by Em Lynas and illustrated by Jamie Littler.

However, children can base their own entries on whichever book they like and in whatever style they prefer.

To get children thinking about how to approach this, Candy asks: 'How does this world compare with the world you live in?' and 'How do the characters in your window interact with the world they're in?' 

Watch the video below and make sure you enter the competition by 5pm on 21 June! 

More about our Writer in Residence