Remember last year’s contest — to name [Turtle]? The entries were imaginative and exciting. The winners, Kelly and her family, have been loving Luna the Turtle ever since.
Our new contest goes to the heart of what Storybook Quilts is all about — melding two creative American traditions: patchwork quilting and storytelling. Each quilt is made of fabrics printed with objects, animals or people and a large central shape that is the main character; the story that matches the quilt is written around these fabrics and that shape.
DanZy the Rabbit, for example, includes fabrics with magicians’ hats and rabbits; in the story, what DanZy wants most is to become a magician’s rabbit. The other fabrics in the quilt help tell the story of his journey in Hip Hop Ala Kazam! Olivia Meets DanZy the Rabbit.
One of the key goals of Storybook Quilts is to tickle children’s imaginations. Hearing the stories read is important to developing literacy, enhancing family closeness and creating wonderful memories — but each Storybook Quilt offers even more. We hope that children also will make up their own stories based on the fabrics in the quilt, giving their imaginations a chance to shine.
With that in mind, our first major contest of 2010 is based on creating a new story around any of our existing quilts. The story does not have to be polished or perfect, it just needs to be new and draw directly on the imagination of a child in your life. Instead of a written story, we are asking contestants to submit a short video.
Details will be available soon. The contest begins on March 21st.
The Grand Prize and other winners will be announced on April 27th, which is National Tell a Story Day. But it’s not too soon to start thinking!
Again, many thanks to all of you who took the time to vote in our polls about the contest. Your guidance was very helpful and we will be announcing additional opportunities in the near future.
