Bill Whiston writes,
Dear Fellow Pensioners,
A while back a friend told me about something called the King Lear Prizes, an organisation set up to keep folk over 70 off the streets during Corona-time. They describe their set up as a “national creative arts competition for older people stuck at home because of Coronavirus” and the inspiration behind it thus:
Many people in the UK are still staying at home due to Coronavirus, and older people have been particularly restricted in what they can do and who they can see.
Our greatest writer, William Shakespeare, was faced with a similar situation, with outbreaks of the plague throughout his career, and in particular in 1605-06, when he wrote his King Lear.
We launched the King Lear Prizes to encourage amateurs and beginners to have a project to get stuck into, and to create new works of literature, poetry, music, drama and art during the time they are quarantined.
The categories were a Short Story of up to 10,000 words; Poetry up to 40 lines; a Musical Composition for a Soloist up to 4 minutes long; a Short Drama performed by up to 4 people 15 minutes long and Art – painting/ drawing/ photography/ textiles/ crafts or collage. There was a prize of £1000 for the winner of each category and bragging rights for anyone selected for the shortlists.
Unfortunately, the deadline for this particular competition has passed but it’s been so popular that I’m sure they will do it all again. Meanwhile they are sending out a weekly challenge for various other arty submissions which are fun to do.
I’d recommend that you look on-line https://www.kinglearprizes.org.uk and sign up to take part if you fancy your creative juices being challenged (if that’s what you do with them). I found it well worth doing having written a short story and two pieces of music.
Great fun! Enjoy!
