The Wild About Britain challenge is inspired by wonderful
children’s classics like Wind in the
Willows and The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
In fact Peter Rabbit was voted the nation’s favourite wildlife character in a
recent RSPCA survey, while Roald Dahl’s Fantastic
Mr Fox was named our favourite wildlife book.
There are two age categories in the competition – 11 years
and under and 12 to 16-year-olds – and the closing date for entries is midnight
on Monday December 10. The winner will receive a selection of books from
publisher Random House and their story will be published on the website.
As Chris Packham, RSPCA vice president, says: “What could be
a more perfect way to get inspiration for your story than to go out into our
woods and search out signs of animals like hedgehogs, foxes and badgers? With
the Olympics, Paralympics and Jubilee it has been an incredible year for Great
Britain. Now it is time to remember that our wildlife is great too.”
I feel very honoured because I’ve been asked to be one of
the competition’s guest judges. As a lifelong fan of stories like The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and Watership Down, I CAN’T WAIT to read the
entries.
For more details of the competition (and to read some of the entries so far) go
to the Wild About Britain website.
