If you’re sitting at home looking for a bit of fun!
February 12, 2020 at 8:04 am | Posted in Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition
Hello all you primary school kids out there who are sitting at home with all that home school work! If you want a bit of fun, this is your PERFECT opportunity to enter my Rascally Rat Tale story writing competition! You can see all the special ingredients and rules here! So get out those pens and start writing!
Kung Hei Fat Choi! It’s time for a Rascally Rat Tale writing competition!
January 24, 2020 at 2:43 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Clever Competitions | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Year of the Rat
Picture credit: Harry Harrison, The Tale of Run Run Rat
Kung Hei Fat Choi! It’s Chinese New Year! My feisty Run Run Rat is telling his family all about his adventurous plans for his trip around China. His mum is busy baking some delicious steam buns for a Chinese New Year feast! His dad is taking a break from his hard work as a miner, and his big sister is STILL filing her claws!! As for Run Run’s little brother – he’s wondering how many egg tarts he can gobble up before his mum notices!
So it’s high time we had another writing competition!
It’s open to anyone, anywhere in the world who is:
- a primary or elementary school student from Grade 1 to Grade 6
- or home-educated students of equivalent stage
This time I want you to write me a story about a rascally Rat, set in China, with the following further ingredients:
- a Chinese emperor
- a brainy princess
- three magic tangerines
- an evil talking dumpling
- the colour malachite (if you don’t know what that is, then look it up!)
- a long drought
Click on my Clever Competitions page right away to find out what I’ll be looking for, and all the competition rules!
The deadline date is Friday 17th April, so you have 3 months to write your story! And with a fabulous Chinese New Year holiday just starting, you could begin your story plan right away!
What a fabulous way to start your celebrations for the Year of the Rat! Run Run Rat would surely approve!
And if you don’t have your copy of The Tale of Run Run Rat yet, click here to purchase right away!
Well done Shiv!
December 14, 2019 at 4:05 pm | Posted in children's literacy, Clever Competitions, Glenealy School, Hong Kong Schools, Poetry competitions for children | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Glenealy School, My Favourite Season Haiku Competition, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions
Say hello to Shiv Mohan, who regularly enters my Clever Competitions, and won Third Place in the Grade 4 to 6 section of the My Favourite Season Haiku Competition! (He also came third in his section in the Clever Competition before that!). Here he is accepting his prize from the Principal, Mr Briggs, at Glenealy School. Well done Shiv!
I’ll be posting details of the next Clever Competition early in the New Year – so make sure you enter! You’ve got to be in it to win it!
2 Clever Competition finalists from Taiwan!
December 2, 2019 at 12:18 pm | Posted in Hsinchu International School, Taiwan Schools | Leave a commentTags: My Favourite Season Haiku Competition, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Sybil Snake
Say hello to two clever young writers from Grade 2M of Hsinchu International School in Taiwan! Isabel Huang (holding her prize, a signed copy of The Tale of Sybil Snake) won 2nd Place in the Grade 1 to 3 Category of my latest competition, the My Favourite Season Haiku Competition, and Alyssa Lin (holding a signed copy of The Tale of Chester Choi), won 3rd place! Standing with them is their lovely teacher, Cairan Meister, Congratulations girls! You can see their winning entries on my Clever Competitions page here!
Just 11 days left to enter the Favourite Season Haiku Competition!
November 4, 2019 at 8:14 am | Posted in Clever Competitions, Poetry competitions for children, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: My Favourite Season Haiku Competition, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions
Good morning everyone! I hope that you’re enjoying the new buds and shoots of Spring (if you live in the Southern Hemisphere!) and the sight of autumnal leaves changing colour (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere!).
Yes, the weather is changing and the days are ticking down in the My Favourite Season Haiku Competition! So if you don’t have your entry in yet, click here right away for all the rules and conditions – and get your entry in SOON!
Remember, the deadline is Midnight EST Friday 15th November!
I can’t wait to read your entry!
A fabulous day at The Peak School!
October 14, 2019 at 9:47 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Poetry Workshops for kids, Story Readings, The Peak School, Writing competitions for kids, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
It’s been a HUGELY busy fortnight, and first of all I have to let you all know about my fabulous day at The Peak School back on Thursday 3rd October! We had a fun day of story readings and workshops for everyone from Year 3 to Year 6! We started with my How to Write a Riveting Story workshop for the Year 6s; next came an Introduction to Poetry for the Year 4s; the Year 5s then learned all the science explaining why Books are a Brain’s Best Friend, and finally the Year 3s had a funny story reading of The Tale of Ping Pong Pig where they learned all about the mighty Yongle Emperor, and cheered as Ping Pong Pig evaded the cunning Minister of Most Important Things! Thank you to lovely librarian Rebecca Rigden Green for being such a wonderful host! And I can’t wait to receive all your entries in my Clever Competition!
Welcome back – and a new Clever Competition!
September 3, 2019 at 3:23 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: My Favourite Season Haiku Competition, poetry, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, Writing
Photo credits: Summer – https://all-free-download.com/free-photos/download/sunflower-image-06-hd-pictures_167025.html; Winter – https://www.123rf.com/photo_11049126_beautiful-nature-winter-scenery-frosty-trees-in-forest.html; Spring – https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-pink-flowers-1045615/; Autumn – https://wallpapercave.com/w/8r8chAr
A very warm welcome back to school!
Don’t you just love the four seasons? They are all so beautiful in their own way! Now if you’re anything like me, you’ll love Autumn best, when you can rug up in a warm coat and go walking with your dog in a nearby park on a crisp, clear day. Or you might prefer lazy, hot Summers when you can go to the beach and splash about in the sea. Or those stormy Winter days when you can sit beside a roaring fire feeling snug and safe inside as the wind buffets and the rain buckets down outside. Or those cool, damp Spring mornings, with their drifts of blossom and gorgeous scent of narcissi and jonquils filling the air.
And just about everyone I know also loves haikus! They’re very short poems, dating back to the 17th century in Japan, and with very strict rules. And they’re PERFECT for describing nature, weather, and the seasons! In fact, the four seasons were regular topics in the very earliest haikus!
So today I’ve posted a brand new Clever Competition, to hone your wits and test your writing skills and have a bit of fun, whilst pursuing world wide fame as a published writer on my blog!
And this time, I want a haiku, all about My Favourite Season – and by that I mean YOUR favourite season!
See my Clever Competition page here to read all the rules and requirements. The deadline for this competition is FRIDAY 15th November, in just over 10 weeks’ time.
So get out those writing pads, pick your favourite season, and start writing your My Favourite Season Haiku NOW!
Well done Jemma Julian!
August 19, 2019 at 5:05 pm | Posted in Book Week, children's literacy, Fabulous fans! | Leave a commentTags: Diana Reynolds, Fiona for Fauna, Jemma Julian, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions
Followers of my Clever Competitions over the years may remember Jemma Julian, a fantastic writer who regularly won places in my Clever Competitions! Jemma is now 14 years old, and I caught up with her and her lovely mum Diana Reynolds at Beecroft for lunch today! Gemma not only still writes stories, but also she is now the published author of a beautiful book about Australian wildlife called Fiona for Fauna. Isn’t that amazing? Here she is above with her book, with Diana who drew the wonderful illustrations. Click on this link if you want to find out more!
Not only is Gemma a published writer, but also she has her own Youtube channel where you can see her singing songs she has written herself! She is such a talented person! And guess what? Gemma has always read lots and lots and lots of books! That’s how you become a highly creative and imaginative human being!
Maybe if you also keep reading lots and lots of books, and entering writing competitions like Gemma, you can become a published author and song-writer too!
Prize-giving at Arden Anglican School, Beecroft
August 19, 2019 at 4:35 pm | Posted in Arden Anglican School, Beecroft, Australian schools, Awards, Sydney schools | Leave a commentTags: Boxed Set of Chinese Calendar Tales, Dark Horse Activity Book, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition, The Tale of Sybil Snake
This morning I also visited Arden Anglican School in Beecroft where I met all the Grade 1s to Grade 3s in chapel, and presented a Boxed Set of the Chinese Calendar Tales to First Prize winner Saskia in the Practically Perfect Pig Tale Story Competition, Grade 1 to 3 Category! Isn’t she a clever girl! I also presented The Tale of Sybil Snake to Second Place winner Alisha (who sadly was home sick today, so her best friend received it on her behalf) and The Dark Horse Activity Book to young Muyao Zhang, who placed fourth! I look forward to receiving lots more entries from Arden Anglican School in my future competitions! You can see me below, with my pig Ping Pong and Saskia (left), and Muyao (right).
A quick visit to Excelsior Public School!
August 19, 2019 at 4:18 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Awards, children's literacy, Clever Competitions, Excelsior Public School, Sydney, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition, The Tale of Desmond Dog
This morning I had the huge pleasure of presenting books to some talented writers at Excelsior Public School in Sydney! You can see me above with Caitlyn, who placed Second in the Grade 4 to 6 section of The Practically Perfect Pig Tale Story Competition, as well as Gary and Isabel who also entered the competition! You can read Caitlyn’s wonderful story if you scroll down the page here!
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