It’s back by popular demand! Following the success of last year’s county-wide Character Creations competition, local family support charity, Home-Start in Suffolk, is once again inviting local primary schools and all Suffolk-based primary school-aged children to join in on this exciting fundraiser. This year it’s championed by children’s author and comedian James Campbell and author and founder of Featherbed Tales, Caroline England.

“Last year’s competition was a huge success with over 50 schools taking part!” says Ali Watson, Home-Start in Suffolk’s Fundraising and Marketing Manager. “Many schools have been in touch asking if we will be doing something again this year and so we set to work to find some new and exciting stories to be our focus for this year’s competition.

“We are delighted to have so much support for the venture again this year, and we are thrilled that James Campbell and Caroline England have agreed to be a part of the project.”

The competition is once again set out in two age ranges, Years 3 to 6 pupils will be able to watch a video featuring funny writing inspiration from author James Campbell who will be sharing about his inspirations and his writing style and giving hints and tips to help pupils taking part. This will be followed by a task, asking children to create their own funny pet either based on their own pet, a pet they have always wanted to have or for those that want to be really creative – a fantastical pet – something completely unique!

Nursery to year 2 pupils will be able to watch a video of Caroline England reading “A Lizards Tail”. The story of Lizard who has many friends that have fabulous tails that are either beautiful to look at or have a purpose, making them really useful. Lizard doesn’t understand why his tail is so special until one day….. This will be followed by a task to draw either the Lizard with a fantastic tail or create a character that could be a friend of Lizard that has an amazing tail - from the stunningly beautiful to those that have an important purpose to the creature’s way of life and survival!

Home-Start in Suffolk will also provide some additional fun activity sheets for schools to use within the class for both age groups.

“The character creations competition is a wonderful way to engage children with stories and let their imaginations run wild.” Caroline England explains. “We can't wait to see the characters they create and for the winner's character to meet Lizard and all his friends in a special new page of our beautiful digital storybook The Lizard's Tail.”

Participating Schools will be provided with a full video recording along with a downloadable entry form on which pupils can design their Character Creations. There are some optional extra activities too including word searches, crosswords, puzzles and more which will allow schools the opportunity to engage the children in a number of educational ways.

“We are delighted that we have the support of Suffolk County Council to launch this competition alongside the National Literacy Trust and Get Suffolk Reading.” Continued Ali. “And with their help, and the generosity of Ipswich Embroidery & Print and Families Suffolk Magazine we have been able to put together some fabulous prize packages!”

There really are some amazing prizes available, including signed books, gym bags, bookmarks, printed t-shirts and mugs, bookstore vouchers, board games, stationery and much more. And with 2 overall winner prizes and 20 runners up across the county, this is a fantastic opportunity to engage children, to promote a love of reading, introduce Suffolk based authors and encourage creativity and the development of imaginations.

The top 10 schools with the highest percentage of entrants based on their total population of students will win signed books for their library too as well as having the opportunity to host a virtual workshop with Featherbed Tales founder Caroline England.

Schools have until 09 May 2022 to sign up and the first 10 schools to sign up will receive specially designed bookmarks for every pupil in their school courtesy of Ipswich Embroidery and Print. All entries are to be uploaded by 06 June 2022 for judging. Winners will be announced at the end of June when prize presentations will also be arranged in early July with authors visiting the overall winner’s in their age category’s school to personally present their prizes.

As part of this competition, participating schools will be asked to host a dedicated fundraising dress down day to help raise vital funds for Home-Start in Suffolk who have been supporting Suffolk families for over 23 years and is instrumental in early intervention to prevent families reaching crisis point. Helping families as they navigate through challenges such as bereavement, long term illness, domestic abuse, isolation, poor mental health, disabilities and so much more.

To find out more about the competition or to sign up your school please visit www.homestartinsuffolk.org/character-creations-2022