Map Making Competition Results

Yes, it has been a while since we last posted anything, but that doesn't mean we’ve been idling around not doing anything. In fact, it’s been the opposite. We’ve been so snowed under with going places, doings things and generally being awesome that we’ve had no time for the internet and its many distractions. Some people may have been wondering whatever happened with that map making competition we were going on about at the end of summer. The results were announced back in September during Shaftesbury Arts Week, and then on Facebook. For those who were not at Shaftesbury Arts Week or Facebook, here are the results (drum roll please…):

Awarded a slip of paper that read Excellent: PETER JUMP. This map was colourful and gave us a good impression of the locale of one of his superb stories. 

Awarded a slip of paper that read Highly Commended: JAMES BROOMFIELD. His map wasn't finished. We implored him to finish it and re-submit next time, because it showed a lot of promise and good imaginative scope. We also liked that it comprised of two layers, one of normal paper, the other of tracing paper. We like this sort of inventiveness and use of different paper types.  

Awarded a bronze rosette: JOANNE PAUL: Jo’s map was a classical fantasy map that really sparked our imaginations. The place names were brilliant; a particular favourite was The Three Mages. It really intrigued us and made us want to see more of this world. This map displayed some wonderful colouring-in techniques, the likes of which have not been seen by me since GCSE graphic design class.

 

Awarded a silver rosette: DANNY MORISON. The scope and execution of Danny’s map was incredible. His map encompassed an entire fictional galaxy and was probably one of the most original approaches that we’ve seen. Danny is a professional illustrator, and this shows in how accomplished his drawing skills are. We liked the range of environments that were depicted and it certainly sparked our curiosity and imagination. Unique! Imaginative! Splendid! We loved this map.

 

Awarded a GOLD rosette: ROBBIE CUMMING. What we liked about this map was how detailed it was. The idea of the competition was to ignite our imaginations and make us want to find out more about new fictional worlds. Robbie’s map was so packed full of details that we couldn't tear ourselves away. We wanted to know what the places were, who lived there, what are they doing? This map could spark a whole volume of interesting stories.



We will be running another map making competition, most probably to coincide with our 2^nd Birthday party in May 2013. So there you have it, plenty of advance warning this time. We’ll do some more official marketing of the next competition from January 2013.

Shaftesbury Arts Festival was kind of good because we hung out together at a time when we were not at a writing event or group and we could appreciate each other as people rather than writers. This should be a more frequent occurrence  As for the handmade book stall: almost total failure. We sold a couple of things. I think someone stole one of my graphic novels. Generally people don't like to buy original hand made literature, they prefer to ignore it or steal it. 

Other things that we've been doing include: Jennifer K Oliver and I went to about half an hour of an Iain M Banks Book Launch/ talk/ signing in Toppings, Bath. We were meant to be there longer than half an hour, but massive trains delays caused us to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the train compared to time in Bath. We may or may not talk more of this in another blog post. 

Also: Mere Literary Festival. 
Also: Bridport Open Book festival Story Slam.
Also: Robbie's Twitter Cartoons. And probably some other stuff. 

All this to come in future posts. But for now, I have to go and do some work.