Congratulations to the winners of the Story of a Sassy Snake writing competition!
April 28, 2025 at 7:41 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Hong Kong International School, Stamford American School Hong Kong, The Year of the Snake, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Clever Competitions, Snake stories, The Tale of Sybil Snake, Writing Competitions for Kids, Year of the Snake
Congratulations to the winners in my Sassy Snake Story Competition! Charles Bruser Zarin, from Hong Kong International School, placed first in the Grade 4 to 6 Category, while Sera Leya Abraham from Stamford American School Hong Kong placed first in the Grade 1 to 3 Category. They each win a signed copy this year’s Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Sybil Snake, as well as TWO further books available on my sales website here. You can read their fabulous stories on my Clever Competitions Page right away!
Just 6 weeks to go in my Story of a Sassy Snake Writing Competition!
February 25, 2025 at 6:37 pm | Posted in Challenges and activities, Clever Competitions, The Tale of Sybil Snake, The Year of the Snake, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Clever Competitions, The Tale of Sybil Snake, The Year of the Snake, Writing Challenges for Kids
Hello all you brilliant primary school-aged writers out there! This is a quick reminder that there are less than six weeks to go to enter your story into my latest Clever Competition! It’s a really fun one, with ingredients including an evil Emperor, a sad spider and a mighty flood! Not to mention a splendidly sassy snake…just like my Sybil Snake! So click on the competition link and get those creative juices flowing! I can’t wait to read your story!
Ssssssss! Welcome to the Year of the Snake!
January 29, 2025 at 9:34 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year Activites, Special Offers, Writing competitions for kids, Year of the Snake | Leave a commentTags: Clever Competitions, Snake Mask, Snake story video, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Sybil Snake, Wicked Words
Kung Hei Fat Choi from Sybil Snake, the sixth and sassiest of all the Chinese Calendar Tales characters! It’s time to start off a fabulous new Year of the Snake with lots of fun and some great offers!
(1) A sssensssational new writing competition on the Clever Competitions page!
This fun writing competition is open to kids of primary school age all around the world! Take a look at the Clever Competitions page for all the details. The deadline is Friday 4th April, so start planning your story NOW!
(2) Some ssseriousssly sssuper new words to impresss all your friendsss!
Click here on the Wicked Words page to learn three fabulous new words inspired by Sybil Snake – then stun your family, teachers and friends with your newfound vocabulary!
(3) A sssensational Snake Mask to make and wear!
Chinese New Year is a great time for making animal masks! Click here for a fun free download from Education.Com for a sssuper Snake Mask to wear at your Chinese New Year party!
(4) A sneak peek at your favourite sssnake ssstory!
If you want to find out a bit more about this year’s Chinese Calendar Tale, and why I wrote the books, take a look at this youtube video!
(5) Ssstay up to date by sssubssscribing to my blog!
If you want to keep up with more news and fun about the Year of the Snake ahead, just ssscroll down this page on the right and enter your email address (of course, you should check with mum or dad first)!
(6) Two sssuper sssasssy dissscountsss on our sales website!
Go to the Chinese Calendar Tales website right away for two ssseriously sssasssy discount offers on the Complete Set of Chinese Calendar Tales and this year’s special story, The Tale of Sybil Snake!
Enjoy!
Just 5 days to go!
April 26, 2023 at 4:27 pm | Posted in Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of a Rogue Rabbit Writing Competition, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, Writing Challenges for Kids
Hop to it my friends! Just 5 days to go to get your entry into my Tale of a Rogue Rabbit writing competition! You can find all the information you need here!
I’m so excited to read your story!
Just 2 weeks left to submit your Tale of a Rogue Rabbit!
April 15, 2023 at 4:53 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | 1 CommentTags: Ira Nair, The Tale of a Rogue Rabbit Writing Competition, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, The Year of the Rabbit, Writing Competitions for Kids
If you haven’t yet submitted your entry for my Tale of a Rogue Rabbit Writing Competition you’d better get hopping! You can find out all the information you need here. I can’t wait to read your entry!
And in the meantime, one of our fabulous entrants is so impatient to find out the winners that she wrote a special poem about it! I thought it was so clever, I had to let you all see it! Thank you Ira Nair for this poem, which made me laugh out loud!
Tick tock
Waiting and waiting.
I look out the window,
I peer through the door.
I stare at my phone,
My patience is no more.
I play with my sister,
I play with my friends.
I play with my family,
Until the deadline ends.
Waiting and waiting.
My stomach excited,
My heart beating fast.
My head going wild,
For the results- at last.
My eyes getting tired,
My mind feeling bored.
I’m getting impatient,
I can’t wait no more.
Waiting and waiting.
While I might be tired,
While this isn’t fun.
While my patience is low,
I shall wait till the deadline is done.
Patience is crucial,
I shall have to wait.
Patience is crucial,
Even when some are late.
Waiting and waiting.
I check my emails once,
And check them once more.
Looking out the window,
Peering out the door.
No need to be impatient,
Keep steady- just wait.
Watch the clock tick,
Until the ending date.
Waiting and waiting.
By Ira Nair
Just one month to go to get your stories in!
March 23, 2022 at 8:16 pm | Posted in Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: A Terrific Tiger Tale writing competition, Competitions for primary school students, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Temujin, writing competitions
If you love writing stories, and you’re in Primary School anywhere in the world, you still have ONE MONTH to get your entries into my latest Clever Competition! Just go to the link here for all the details! I can’t wait to get your entry!
Well done Vincy and thank you Kids4Kids!
November 2, 2021 at 10:20 pm | Posted in Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong history for kids, Kids4Kids Hong Kong, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, True Hong Kong mysteries
Meet Vincy Chan, winner of the Kids4Kids Quiz Competition after my Author Visit via Zoom recently with my new book, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! Vincy very cleverly answered all the quiz questions correctly and gave a winning description of where she thinks the missing Chater Collection might be found! Here’s what Vincy said:
“I think the beautiful missing collection will be in the government house’s humongous, magnificent garden and there will be an odd, smelly tunnel. You will find a gold, antique key and a brain racking poem that could help you find those unique paintings. Those appealing paintings will be in an old, wooden chest covered with gold and silver coins.”
I think that with writing skills like this, Vincy is well on the way to becoming an author herself! Well done Vincy!
You can listen to my session at Kids4Kids – and learn some fascinating Hong Kong history, as well as find out all about my funny, exciting new chapter book HERE! Thank you David Wong and the inspiring team at Kids4Kids for making this recording available! And thank you to Vincy’s dad for this beautiful portrait of Vincy!
Well done Reva!
June 29, 2021 at 8:56 pm | Posted in Discovery College, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Run Run Rat, Writing competitions for primary school kids
Isn’t this a wonderful photo of Reva Kamath from Discovery College, Hong Kong, who at just 8 years old came Second Place in the Year 4 to 6 category of my Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition? Reva chose The Tale of Run Run Rat as her prize, and here she is being presented with it by PYP Teacher Librarian Mrs Leanne Sercombe. The story she chose is all about the success that comes to those try their hardest; a very appropriate choice for this talented young writer! Well done Reva! I can’t wait to read more of your work!
Kids4Kids awards some hugely talented young Hong Kong writers and illustrators!
June 27, 2021 at 11:27 pm | Posted in Kids4Kids, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong writing competitions, My Story Creation Competition 2020-2021, Writing competitions for primary school kids
Yesterday I had the huge pleasure of attending the Online Celebration Ceremony of the My Story Creation Competition 2020-2021, hosted by my friends at Kids4Kids, and funded by The Community Chest! I was honoured to read out to the attendees the fabulous overall winning story, The Wolf, written and illustrated by Kristi Ng. It’s a fantastic story, with beautiful illustrations in watercolour, crayon and colour pencil. You can see some of the pages from Kristi’s book in the slideshow below. Aren’t they wonderful?
Huge congratulations to the 352 kids who entered from schools and learning centres all over Hong Kong! You can see the list of winners and their work by visiting the competition website here.
And you can register for next year’s competition right away by scanning the QR code below!
The Results are out in The Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition!
April 23, 2021 at 11:31 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | 1 CommentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition, The Tale of Oswald Ox, Writing Competitions for Kids
Hooray! At last the results are out in my Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition! Thank you so much for your patience! It was horribly difficult to judge, with a fabulous 44 entries from 19 schools in 6 cities around the world: Brisbane, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Taiwan and Ely in the United Kingdom!
Congratulations to everyone who entered. And special congratulations to the Top Six in each of the Year 1 to 3 and Year 4 to 6 Categories, as well as some fabulous Honourable Mentions and Special Mentions!
Click on my Clever Competitions page right away to read the fantastic winning entries!
Places were as follows:
Year 1 to 3 Category
FIRST PLACE: Sophia Dennison, Year 3, French International School Hong Kong, 8 years old
SECOND PLACE: Luke Jackson, Year 3, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 8 years old
THIRD PLACE: Seraphina Zhuang, Year 3, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia 8 years old
FOURTH PLACE; Lillian Xue, Year 3, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 8 years old
FIFTH PLACE: Muyao Zhang, Year 3, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 8 years old
SIXTH PLACE: Freya Bainbridge, Year 3, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, 8 years old
HONOURABLE MENTION: Ivan He, Grade 3, Stamford American School Hong Kong, 8 years old
SPECIAL MENTIONS:
Leona Huang, Year 1, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 6 years old
Louise Pan, Year 1, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 6 years old
Year 4 to 6 Category
FIRST PLACE: James Bruser Zarin, Year 5, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, 10 years old
SECOND PLACE: Reva Kamath, Year 4, Discovery College Hong Kong, 8 years old
THIRD PLACE: Therese Li, Year 4, Arden Anglican School, NSW, Australia, 8 years old
FOURTH PLACE: Akshadha Madan, Year 5, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, 9 years old
FIFTH PLACE: Renee Wong and Kate Chiu, Year 6, Renaissance College Hong Kong, both 11 years old
SIXTH PLACE: Tanvi Pati, Year 4, Renaissance College Hong Kong, 8 years old
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Amira Datwani, Year 5, Renaissance College Hong Kong, 9 years old
Abigail Wright, Year 6, Oxley State School, Brisbane, Australia, 10 years old
Jake Jung, Year 5, Ermington Public School, Sydney, Australia, 10 years old
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