1000 Words Heard for INARA:
the winners' enclosure
It is our great pleasure to announce the winners of the 1000 Words Heard for INARA writing competition here on Friday 5 June 2020. The winning stories and their narrators will be posted here so stay tuned!
1000 Words Heard for INARA is now closed.
We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has taken part in the competition. Just by entering, you've helped to improve the lives of children suffering the horrors of war, so thank you from us all here at BIBLIOPHONE.
Good luck wonderful writers!
Welcome to 1000 Words Heard for INARA
If you’re a regular here you’ll know that our writing competitions don’t follow the usual formula. In our writing competitions we like to offer a prize that’s actually useful to you as a writer. Something that develops your author platform.
And for the first time, just by entering this particular writing competition, you’ll be helping some truly vulnerable people.
What is INARA?
We’ve never charged an entry fee for our writing competitions before. Like everything else here at BIBLIOPHONE, we believe publishing should be free. And that includes our competitions.
This time we want to do some good though, and we hope you’d like to join us. That’s why entry to 1000 Words Heard for INARA will include a donation to charity. It’s only £4/$4/€4/AU$4/CAN$4 to enter and your donation will go to a truly worthy cause. At BIBLIOPHONE we won’t take a penny for the competition, and neither will our fabulous narrators.
Jamila lost her eye in an airstrike on her home in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.
When a child is injured, either directly or indirectly, by the horrors of war, parents are often at a loss knowing who to go to in order to get help. INARA is there to establish links between these children and the medical support that they need.
When no one else can help them, they ensure that the child gets the treatment that will help them lead better lives. This is what INARA does.
Currently INARA focuses on providing medical assistance to children from Syria, including Palestinians, who are the group in greatest need.
And while we’re all impacted by COVID-19, there are vulnerable people in the world who were suffering long before the virus took hold. And they need our help.
Amani was burnt and lost her home in Syria
Refugee families often don’t have running water. They struggle to afford soap or other cleaning materials. They already find it hard to make ends meet, pay rent, and put food on the table. Many families are losing their only source of meagre income due to COVID-19. These families are the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. They need our help to protect themselves against COVID-19 and to eat.
Amani’s family are one of many families suffering as a result of COVID-19. Her father, Fadi, had just got a new job, but couldn’t start because of coronavirus restrictions; and her mother lost her work sewing clothes, also because of this virus. Fadi said: “We have been through a lot in Syria, we even lost our home and my daughter was burnt and has suffered to this day. But this is different. We really don’t know if we will make it.”
How can you help?
Just do your thing! You’re a writer and as the old adage goes: writers write. Right? And that means writing competitions. Just like this one.
The winning stories will be narrated by a professional voice actor and published here at BIBLIOPHONE. As with our previous writing competitions, we’ll feature them all on our homepage for at least a month and we’ll tweet them every day for at least as long.
You’re invited to include an author bio with your story and we’ll publish that too, including a link to your website, blog, social media etc. In other words, we want to help you get some serious publicity as a writer. And if you've not had your work published in audio format before, we want to introduce a new dimension to your author platform.
All you have to do is head over to our JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bibliophone and make your donation. £4/$4/€4/AU$4/CAN$4 is the minimum donation we ask for to enter the writing competition. If you’d like to give more please do, but just by donating the set value you’ll be making a difference to someone’s life. Once you’ve made your donation to INARA you’re all set to enter the competition.
Just fill in the form here when you’re ready with your story. You need to enter a few details and upload your story file. Whatever name you’d like to have associated with your story is fine by us. We understand a good pseudonym. But please remember that if you use a different name to make your donation over at JustGiving, include it in the box provided on the writing competition entry page just so that we know you’re eligible to enter.
You need to make your donation by midnight on Friday 8 May, and the writing competition closes two weeks later on Friday 22 May, so you have until then to get your story in to us.
Your story needs to be no longer than 1000 words (and yes it is a strict word limit – that is the aim of the competition after all!) and can be about anything. Tip: you want to entice the narrators to give voice to your written words, so have a think about how it might sound when it’s read aloud. Speaking of which.
Topic: writing competitions
Introducing the narrators
REBECCA ROBERTS
Rebecca is a long-time friend of ours here at BIBLIOPHONE and she knows our writing competitions well. In fact Rebecca was the narrator for our first ever 1000 Words Heard writing competition. With a background in writing, she understands the subtle nuances of voicing a story. In the words of author Anne McAneny: “She’s so good, you don’t even hear her. All you hear are my words.”
Rebecca's website: www.rebeccarobertsvoice.com
KRISTIN ATHERTON
Kristin is a Yorkshire-born, half-German actress, and a graduate of LAMDA. Her theatre credits include roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, the Sheffield Crucible, West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Orange Tree Theatre and several title roles for pioneering theatre company Shared Experience. Her screen credits include series regular Vix Spark in Waterloo Road, Doctors, Shakespeare and Hathaway, and Rockets Island (all for the BBC). Her audio work covers video-games, both commercial and corporate advertising, and she has narrated over 70 audiobooks titles, including the award-winning 'The Silence of the Girls', by Pat Barker.
Kristin on Twitter: @KristinAtherton
ARIA DEMARIS
Aria DeMaris is a Latin American actor, writer, producer, and dialect coach. Her acting work includes “Lost in Space,” “DC Legends of Tomorrow,” British WWI drama series “The Bagley Boys,” and the award winning “That Burning Feeling.” She has dialect coached on “Super Girl,” “Altered Carbon” and coaches actors all over the world. She wrote, produced, and performed an original two woman play for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and has lent her voice for Disney, Nintendo, various video games, as well as English and Spanish narrating for the Cambridge University. Her first written feature film is in the post production stage and will be out in festivals later this year.
Aria's website: www.ariademaris.com
KERRY HUTCHINSON
Born in Germany, Kerry has lived in South Asia, worked in the Middle East and Europe, and fought 3 combat tours as an Infantry Officer in Afghanistan. He has also worked in commerce, industry, and for the UK Government in Berlin in the Cold War, and in the European Commission in Brussels after that. All of these life and work experiences help Kerry add gravitas and credibility to the many voices he can produce, helped by a deep understanding, knowledge and experience of each voice’s context
With over 17 years’ acing, voice acting and voiceover experience, Kerry has voiced ads, promos, B2B, B2C, e-learners and documentaries for a broad range of UK and international clients from terrestrial TV through to online channels, as well as corporates for national and international organisations, as well as for the Government and the European Commission.
Kerry is currently narrating a political-military thriller trilogy about MI5, Mi6 and their fight against ISIS in the UK and the Middle East, by author WT Delaney.
Kerry recently voiced a national UK TV Covid-19 appeal ad for the British Red Cross. He actively supports charities like the British Red Cross as well as Combat Stress.
Kerry's website www.kerryvoice.co.uk
ANA CLEMENTS
Ana Clements always nurtured a secret dream to be an actor, but life got in the way and she found herself at university rather than drama school, studying economics rather than acting. After a successful career in finance, Ana decided to follow her dream. She trained as a singer and spent six years working in provincial musical theatre. She has undertaken audio training with Nancy Wolfson, Sean Pratt and Yvonne Morley and spent two years studying Sound Engineering, Vocal Production and Critical Listening. Ana's dream of becoming a performer is now a reality and she works full time from her home studio as a voice talent in corporate audio and audio books for clients in the US and Europe as well as in the UK.
Ana's website: www.anaclements.co.uk
SIOBHAN WARING
Siobhan is an audiobook narrator from England, UK. “I am very lucky to live a new adventure every day by immersing myself into all genre of fiction and becoming all the characters within the pages of those books, whether male or female, every age and accent! I love bringing authors' beautifully written stories to life through audio.”
Siobhan lives in the English countryside with her family and very laid-back Labrador. “If I'm not in my booth narrating I'll most likely be dancing or encouraging things to flourish in our garden.”
Siobhan's website: www.voiceofsiobhan.wordpress.com
NICK FURNAL
A content writer and author by trade, Nicholas graduated from UCSC with a BA in Modern Literary Studies. He first got into voice over work with the creation of his YouTube channel, garnering thousands of views. His voice can be described as calming, resonant, and professional. You can check out his Twitter to stay up to date on his latest written work here:
ELENA JIMÉNEZ ALVAREZ
Elena is a qualified English to Spanish translator, voiceover artist, and yoga coach from Mexico, now based in the UK. She is particularly fond of projects that spark creativity and seek to add value to people's lives, do good, have a positive impact in the world, and help people make their lives more efficient, productive, happier, and healthier. To know more about her audiobook Spanish narration services please visit her website:
JOHN GULLY
“Six years ago I found a passion for narrating Audiobooks," John says. "I have narrated non-fiction titles for the entirety of that time with an emphasis on Bios/Memoirs, True Crime and Military/Historical titles. I have a fully equipped home studio with many different remote capabilities and I am also an Approved Producer on the ACX Audiobook Platform. I have dedicated myself to being a full time Audiobook Narrator/Producer, although I do have 25+ years of experience in a variety of voiceover genres. My voice has been described as “Soothing and Learned but Informal….Like a Warm Fire, A Glass of Wine and A Tome on AI”. I hope we can work together to help bring your words to life in audio!”
John's website: www.johnnyvot.com
LAUREN RODRIGUEZ
Lauren Rodriguez was born and raised in Texas. Depending on the season, she may be home in Austin, TX or enjoying the sun in Los Angeles, CA. She has a background in music and a BA in theatre. Her love of performing in plays and musical theatre helped shape her passion for using her voice to tell stories behind a microphone.
Lauren's website: www.LaurenRodriguezVO.com
Thank you, you wonderful writers
Just by entering 1000 Words Heard for INARA you’ll be a winner. Like almost everyone on planet earth, your life has probably changed over the past few weeks. The chances are, you or someone you know has been impacted by COVID-19, either medically or financially. But that doesn’t mean you don’t think about others.
So thank you. Thank you for putting others first. Thank you for putting your short story writing skills to good use. Thank you for helping those who were already in trouble before coronavirus. You are heroes.
One last thing
As authors you are geniuses when it comes marketing yourselves and your written work. We know your short story writing skills are positively sublime, but we also know that you're great at selling yourselves. If we can ask you to go one step further and spread the word across your social media platforms about the writing competition, we can get a real movement underway and make huge inroads into making life more livable for those who really need our help at this time. So please, please do all you can to shout about this writing competition. We don't profit from our writing competitions and we won't take a penny of the donations raised so please help us to help INARA. Thank you.