Science festival seeks writing entries
Midlands Science is providing two unique ways for people across the region to engage with the Midlands Science Festival this year through a competition for school students and a writing opportunity for the general public.
The organisation is running a special competition called “Show Us Your Future” for primary and secondary school students. The competition asks students to describe in 500 words or less and with a drawing if they wish, what they think their life will be like in 30 years from now and what science will have brought to their life. Entries by email to jgorman@midlandsscience.ie, entries are welcome in both English and Irish.
Tá comórtas speisialta á reáchtáil againn do Sheachtain na hEolaíochta do dhaltaí bunscoile agus meánscoile. Inis dúinn, i 500 focal nó níos lú, agus le líníocht más mian leat, cén chuma a bheidh ar do shaol i gceann 30 bliain, dar leat, agus cad a bheidh tugtha ag an eolaíocht do do shaol. Fáilte roimh iontrálacha i mBéarla agus i nGaeilge araon.
In entering this competition students can imagine what kind of car they might drive in the future, what kind of phone they will have. They can consider if we will have solved climate change or cured a lot of diseases. Students are asked to be as ambitious and curious as they like with their entries.
The general public also gets a chance to take part in a new Midlands Science Festival opportunity in the midlands by submitting a poem or piece of flash fiction for “Experiments with Words.”
A limited-edition pamphlet with this title will be produced for Science Week and edited by award-winning writer Niamh Boyce and it will be launched during Science Week. Writers must be from Laois, Offaly, Longford or Westmeath or currently living in those counties. Poems should be no longer than 50 lines and flash fiction no longer than 1,000 words. All submissions should include a short [150 words biography] and be sent directly to Niamh Boyce at notniamhm@gmail.com by October 21.
The theme is science and the call is interested in work that is specific, rooted in place, in personal experience and science as it affects the writer’s life and perspective. This can be about the past, present or an imagined future and how science affects these times.
Jackie Gorman, CEO of Midlands Science commented “these two new opportunities as part of the Midlands Science Festival are about building broad-scale community engagement in Science Week through curiosity and creativity. We are looking forward to seeing what students think their lives in Ireland will be like in 30 years from now and also what poetry and fiction science will inspire amongst local writers.”
More information about the work of Midlands Science is available on www.midlandsscience.ie