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Climate Tales is a brand new writing competition all about Climate Change. We want young writers from across Scotland to tell us about their hopes, frustrations, opinions and fears. We want to hear children’s voices in the form of a short story, a poem, a written word piece, a monologue or even a rap; whatever gets your creative juices flowing, but it must be under 500 words in length.

We are absolutely delighted to introduce you to the judges who will have the pleasure of reading your work! Find out more about them below!

Anne Fine is a distinguished writer for children of all ages and was the UK’s second ever Children’s Laureate in 2001. She has written over fifty books for children and has also written for adults to considerable critical acclaim. Her novel Goggle-Eyes won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize as well as Britain’s most coveted award for children’s literature, the Carnegie Medal.

Anne won the Carnegie Medal again for Flour Babies, which also won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award. Her children’s book Madame Doubtfire was adapted for film into Mrs Doubtfire by Twentieth Century Fox starring Robin Williams. Anne has two children of her own and seven grandchildren, all of whom she loves to read with!

Dean Atta is an award winning poet and children’s author, whose work often deals with themes of gender, identity, race and growing up. His debut young adult novel, The Black Flamingo, was awarded the Stonewall Book Award 2020 and his debut poetry collection was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. Dean regularly performs across the UK and internationally. He is based in Glasgow, and is Co-director of the Scottish BAME Writers Network and a patron of LGBT+ History Month. Dean is vey excited to be a judge for 麻豆社 Radio Scotland’s Climate Tales competition.

Janice Forsyth is a writer and award winning broadcaster who has hosted many arts and entertainment shows for TV and radio including 麻豆社 Radio Scotland’s current live, daily arts and music show The Afternoon Show. Janice has lost count of the number of big names she has interviewed over the years, but counts musician and poet Leonard Cohen as one of her favourites! Janice also presents 麻豆社 Learning/The Scottish Book Trust’s Authors’ Live webcasts with top children’s writers, as well as events including The Scottish Album of the Year and 麻豆社 Radio Scotland’s Edinburgh Festivals coverage. She has also written for publications including The Herald, Scotsman, Scotland On Sunday, Daily Record and New Statesman.

Len Pennie – also known as MissPunnyPennie - is a poet who writes predominantly in the Scots language. Based in Fife, Len is passionate about the promotion of minority languages and the destigmatisation of mental illness. She is also the social media sensation behind the Scots language Word of the Day videos and the poem I’m No Havin’ Children which celebrates the Scots language (spoiler: she wants ‘bairns’ instead!) The poem has been viewed over 600,000 times online and her poetry has attracted admiration from the likes of Hollywood actor Michael Sheen. Indeed, her Scots language poems are so popular that many teachers have been using them to teach Scots in schools.

Rory Crawford is a children’s television presenter on CBeebies and wildlife expert. Alongside presenter Ferne Corrigan he presents My Pet and Me and Ferne & Rory’s Teeny Tiny Creatures. He is a Dad to two children and his wee boy Sandy can often be seen on screen beside him! Rory is a marine biologist by trade and has a passion for seabirds. When he’s not on telly, he works with teams all over the world to try and stop seabirds being accidentally caught by fishing boats – from the eastern Baltic to Namibia and Chile to Iceland.

JJ Chalmers is an athlete, television presenter, former Royal Marine Commando and Strictly Come Dancing quarter-finalist. JJ served in Afghanistan, where he survived a catastrophic bomb blast, and later went on to lead a team of cyclists to success in the Invictus Games before travelling the world as part of the 麻豆社’s team of sports presenters.

Since 2017, JJ has presented The Invictus Games, The Commonwealth Games and The London Marathon. JJ is passionate about caring for the environment and is a proud Dad of two! In his spare time, he loves to do DIY and tend to his garden.