The Evening Standard Announces The Launch Of Its ‘What’s Your Story?’ Competition

On The Table Read, “the best creativity magazine in the UK“, The Evening Standard announces the launch of its ‘What’s Your Story?’ Competition as part of the Stories Festival, in association with Westfield London. 

• The What’s Your Story? competition, in association with Westfield London, aims to discover a new generation of voices, to encourage and inspire creative talent.
  
• The competition will be supported and judged by esteemed personalities from across the creative industries.
  
• The Evening Standard Stories Festival 2022 will be held in central London from 22-24 September bringing to life today’s most exciting narrative opportunities, from page to podcast, the multiplex to the metaverse, as we hear from publishing, screen and audio creators. Expect intimate talks, panel discussions and live event experiences, with the line-up being revealed over the summer.

Evening Standard Stories Festival

After a successful debut in 2021 that saw thousands of Londoners join the brightest stars of page and screen for three days of talks, workshops and awards ceremonies, the Evening Standard Stories Festival is back. Celebrating how stories connect us and the new ways in which we connect with stories, this inclusive initiative gives a platform to upcoming and established voices and is guaranteed to get London talking. 

The ‘What’s Your Story?’ competition, returning for its second year, gives a new generation of creators from across the UK the chance to tell their stories in diverse forms and receive industry support. The competition is supported by Westfield London to discover, develop and champion nationwide talent.  

Apply To the What’s Your Story Competition

Applications opened on 22 June 2022 for anyone with an original story about themselves and is ready to tell it in a fresh and compelling way. This might be a story of childhood, of growing up, of the city, a story of the imagination: anything at all that’s your story. 

This year, reflecting the vibrant array of narrative forms, entries can be written for the screen, the stage or the page. Applicants can tell their story through dialogue, lyrics, poetry or prose.  Submissions can be written or performed. Each entry must be either up to 1,000 words or a video of up to 2 minutes in length. 

Entries open on 22 June 2022 and close on 24 July 2022 at 11.59 pm. There will be two initial long-listing processes before a shortlist is submitted to a final judging panel. Judges will select one overall winner and two runners up. 

There is no fee to enter and winning pieces will be performed live at the Festival and published on standard.co.uk, as well as a receiving a writing advice session with one of the judges.

Judges Of The What’s Your Story Competition

The panel of judges will be chaired by author and journalist Lotte Jeffs, and includes Jessica Loveland, Head of New Writing at the BBC; Deblina Chakrabarty, Vice President of MGM and a founding member of The Whole Kahani, a collective of British fiction writers of South Asian origin; and Andrew Hunter Murray, the scriptwriter and senior researcher for BBC2’s QI, who co-hosts the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish.

As London’s most iconic news brand, the Evening Standard has always played a role in shaping the creative life of the city. The ‘What’s Your Story?’ competition and Stories Festival is aimed at encouraging creative talent and discovering new voices in the world’s cultural capital.

Grace Charge, Head of Brand Experience and Partnerships, Europe at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said: “It’s fantastic to continue our long-standing partnership with the Evening Standard through this year’s Stories Festival, celebrating the role that stories play in connections and bringing people together. We look forward to collaborating with a great line up of creative industry brands with our What’s Your Story? competition to support local talent and produce inspirational content that resonates with Westfield London audiences.”

Charlotte Ross, Acting Editor, Evening Standard said: “After the waves created by our first Stories Festival, we at the Evening Standard are excited to be welcoming back our storytelling festival and competition, a major creative collaboration with partner Westfield London. I would encourage anyone who has ever wanted to write or tell their story to enter – we can’t wait to see your work.” 

About the Evening Standard

Founded in 1827, the Evening Standard is London’s most iconic news brand and the UK’s largest quality daily. Recognised as setting the agenda in politics and business, as well as being first with major news and sports stories, the brand reaches a total of 18 million cross-platform readers a month. 

About Westfield London

Westfield London is the capital’s pioneering shopping and leisure destination – an innovative and dynamic place for a new generation of consumer to shop, to eat and to meet. Since its £600m expansion in 2018, the centre is now the largest retail destination in Europe at 2.6m sq. ft.  

Westfield London is anchored by John Lewis & Partners, M&S and Next, and houses 450 stores ranging across luxury, premium and high street fashion, and beauty retailers, showcasing more than 750 brands. Over 20 luxury and premium brands are found within The Village, the centre’s luxury shopping space, with events, fashion installations and exhibitions. Westfield London also houses over 80 exciting eating concepts offering 25 styles and nationalities of cooking, as well as the UK’s biggest cinema, Vue Westfield.  

Westfield London features a large central Atrium and an outdoor events and entertainment space, Westfield Square, which hosts to experiential, cultural and educational events throughout the year – from outdoor film viewings to photographic exhibitions, family-friendly experiences, spectacular fashion shows and World Film Premieres. Exhibition London, a 3,000-capacity music venue opened at the end of 2019.   

Find More Now

***To enter the competition, storytellers can apply via www.stories.standard.co.uk/competition ***

To pre-register for the programme launch and ticket release, visit: www.stories.standard.co.uk

Social media handles

Twitter: @EveningStandard

Instagram: @evening.standard

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eveningstandard

Hashtag for the competition and festival: #ESStories

Website: www.stories.standard.co.uk

www.stories.standard.co.uk/competition

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