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...