Contacts
2nd Annual Animal Services Tails of Hope Short Story Writing Contest
2022 Short Story Contest Details
Do you have a rescued dog, cat, hamster or friendly neighbourhood squirrel that you want to share with the world?
Join us, the Pickering Public Library, Pickering Town Centre and Hifive Kids Dental & Braces and write a story about your furry friend. If you don't have a furry friend, that's okay, use your imagination and create an animal related story of your own. Select stories will be professionally published with one copy going to the child, and another becoming part of a permanent collection that will be used at the library and future animal related programming.
3 Age Categories
- 5-7 yrs
- 8-10 yrs
- 11 - 12 yrs
Guidelines for submission:
- All stories must have a biography of the author.
- Images must have no watermarks.
- Only emailed stories will be accepted.
- Please do not submit cellphone pictures of your story for quality purposes.
Not sure where to start? Here is what you need to know!
Before submitting your story make sure your story has the following:
- Cover (Title/Written by…you!)
- Stories must be 14-20 pages long (can be pictures, drawings, cartoons…be creative!)
- Write a dedication (to my dog Frank/for my dog Shadow)
- Artist Bio/Self-portrait (write a line about yourself - draw a picture of yourself and your pet)
- Each page should be 8.5 x 11
- You have until June 3rd at 5:00 pm to submit your short story
Register for the contest today!
Tails of Hope Short Story Contest: How to Workshop
Monday May 9, 2022 from 6:30 - 7:30
Are you interested in entering the Tails of Hope Short Story contest, but you don't know where to start? Join children's staff, Sadiya and Lindsey from Pickering Animal Services for a how-to workshop on writing your own book.
Register for the Workshop today!
Sponsors
A big thank you to Hifive Kids Dental & Braces and the Pickering Town Centre for sponsoring this initiative.
2021 Writing Contest Winners
Back in July we asked our community to write a short story about their furry friend. We were thrilled to receive so many creative and high quality submissions and are happy to announce our top 3 winners, one from each age category:
- My Cat Daisy, by Sofia: 5-7 years old
- The Winter Adventure of Mouse and Squirrel, by Maddie: 8-10 years old
- The Runaway, by Scarlett: 11-12 years old
Young authors received a professionally published copy of their story and 4 large compilation books were created to highlight the top 11 entries. 2 compilation books will be in circulation at the Pickering Public Library, while 1 will remain at the Pickering Animal Shelter and at HiFive Kids Dental & Braces. We encourage the community to stop into each of the locations to read these talented authors stories.
Congratulations to all of our young authors!
Here are the top 3 stories, one from each age category.
Participants are shown below.