Over 1,000 local Primary School pupils take part in Festival Leisure’s Literacy competition

08 Jul Over 1,000 local Primary School pupils take part in Festival Leisure’s Literacy competition

To coincide with Basildon New Town’s 70th anniversary, Festival Leisure Park Basildon, recently launched their ‘Festival in 70 years’ time’ Literacy competition back in May this year.

In conjunction with Basildon Council in no more than 70 words Festival Leisure Park invited Primary School Pupils to creatively write and express what entertainment they thought would be at the popular Leisure destination in 70 years’ time.

The Literacy competition has received a phenomenal response and in just 8 weeks over 1,000 Primary School pupils have submitted their entry, seeing a total of 23 schools receive £70 as part of the campaign.

After receiving the vast amount of entries, judges from Festival Leisure Park and Basildon Council sat down to shortlist entries. All judges were absolutely blown away with both the number of submissions and also the high level of writing and creative element which was included.

After final deliberations and accounting for how successful the campaign has proved, judges have agreed not to limit the shortlist down to the top 10, but to extend this to the top 20.

The winning entry will receive a £1000 cheque for their school – personally delivered by the Mayor and representatives from Festival Leisure Park and Basildon Council. (Please see top 20 submissions attached)

Cllr David Burton-Sampson, Mayor of Basildon Borough commented: “As we celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Basildon New Town and reflect on our heritage, it’s been fantastic to read our future generations’ creative vision for Festival Leisure Park. We have enjoyed working with our partners at Festival Leisure Park on this project and the response to the competition has been excellent. We are so impressed with the vast array of talented writers and artists we have across the Borough.”

Matthew Chambers, Centre Manager of Festival Leisure Park said: “We’re truly overwhelmed with the number of schools and pupils who have taken part in the Literacy competition. It’s been a pleasure to read some of the brilliant entries and it’s been insightful to see how the younger generation portray what the future will look like! After reviewing over 1,000 submissions, we’ve decided to extend the number of shortlisted entries to 20.”

Matthew continued: “We’re now looking forward to going through the top twenty shortlisted entries and announcing our winner!