Contests and Cats

How Contests Were Arranged

We had three types of contests. Story title contests. Opening line contests. 

Magic Box Contests

Magic box contests were those in which you drew three papers out of a box with a place, a character and an object. 

The stories were read, sometimes by the author. Sometimes we were told the three elements before the story was read out. Sometimes we had to guess the three elements. We then voted on the best overall story, and the best use of the three elements.  Another version had a male and a female character, and a place or an object. You might get something easy, such as a grandfather, a small girl and a diary. Or you could get something challenging, such as a crocodile, The Arctic, and a ballerina.

What could you do with the latter? A ballerina in a ballet about the Artic. She has a spurned lover. He ruins her finale of her dream sequence by slithering across the stage dressed as a crocodile. She takes revenge by stamping on his feet.

The people present might be asked to write down the characters.

 We had contests which started with an opening line. The stories were written on the night in the first half of the meeting and placed in a pile. After the refreshment break, the stories were handed out at random and read aloud. We voted for the best story, second and third, who won prizes, usually a small printed certificate and a small cash prize donated by the person who sponsored the contest and gave the opening line. 

How To Guess The Author

The stories were supposed to be anonymous.  However, in several cases you could guess the author. Two ladies owned cats and liked to write about cats.

Which cat story belonged to which author. One was a sweet soul who wrote simple stories with happy endings such as lost cats which were found to the delight of cat, new kittens and owners.

 The other one was a retired English teacher, with an extensive vocabulary including Latin words for plant names. She wrote ascerbic comments and sometimes surprise endings. For example, tormented cats which grouped together and took horrible revenge destroying prized possessions and even killing violent villains who had been relentlessly cruel to cats.

A handsome, randy young student always wrote about sex.

Another man always wrote about WW2.

Contest With Prison Title

We had one contest where the title was the prison. One woman wrote about the cat at the window which provided solace to a prisoner. When the prisoner was released he adopted the cat.

 The man wrote about resistance fighter in WW2. He was captured and dreamed of escaping and the end of the war. He spent a year plotting how to gradually saw through the bars. He escaped but was captured. But he was soon released because the end of WW2 was announced.

A young man always wrote about sex. He wrote about a man having sex inside a prison cell. (Rater too vivid a depiction for some of our elderly lady listeners. The end was it just a dream about sex. But it was also a dream about being inside a prison cell, the bedcovers.

The monetary prizes were usually donated by either the president or the more affluent retired members such as Bernard Leton the dentist who was President at least one year when I was a member. The prizes, although small, were a real joy to all, either for the status, or because the poorer retired people who very glad to receive them. 

If the donor of the prize was a winner, he sometimes used to money to buy a round of drinks for those who went to the bar afterwards.