Formed over forty years ago, our Writers Circle is based in Felixstowe, Suffolk. Meetings are held in The Room at the Top in Felixstowe Library, normally on the first and third Tuesday of each month commencing at 7.30pm and finishing by 10.00pm. Check this weblog for details of meetings.

There is an annual November to November fee of £30, April to November is £20 and June to November £15. For members preferring to pay at each meeting the charge is £5 per meeting. To contact Felixstowe Scribblers simply email scribblers.1@btinternet.com or the Secretary, catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com

The Bill Budner Trophy

Bill Budner joined Felixstowe Scribblers in August 2005 and soon afterwards registered with our online group. A really friendly and popular character, Bill made many friends at Scribblers in such a short time. His tremendous passion for writing produced many prolific words in his short stories, his mild manner and quiet voice accentuating every facet of his work.

Away from Scribblers Bill was a lay preacher and heavily involved with church affairs at St Mary's in Walton where he took over the responsibility for the parish magazine.

Bill died suddenly from a massive heart attack on Tuesday 14th February 2006 leaving his wife Maureen and family deep in shock and mourning his loss, Felixstowe Scribblers sharing their grief.

Maureen sponsored two successful writing competitions for adults and children in his memory whilst a trophy, purchased from the donation of her prize money from Belinda Janz, has become a regular and revered part of the Scribbler's programme.

This is run as an anonymous competition with the guidelines for The Bill Budner Trophy as follows:

  • Short stories or poetry up to a maximum of 1,000 words on any topic
  • Work must be typed (on single sides of paper)
  • Entries must be completed before arrival at the meeting
  • Work must be anonymous - no names or identification marks on the paper
  • On arrival at the meeting work will be placed face down on a designated table
  • At a given time all members will collect one entry (but not their own!) and will be given time to familiarize themselves with it - whenever possible all stories will be read by independent readers
  • The stories will then be read out to the group with everyone present marking their top three entries
  • At the end of the evening all marks will be added by a nominated adjudicator.
  • The winner will then be announced and the prestigious Bill Budner Trophy presented to them by the previous winner.
  • The trophy will then be engraved by Scott at Mr Cobbler in Felixstowe
  • The trophy will be held for six months until the next competition
  • The holder undertakes to return the trophy to Felixstowe Scribblers and advise of any change of address.

AMENDED COMPETITION RULES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS.

Entries should be stories or poems on any topic.

One entry only per person.

Submissions should be written for the competition and not a previously written script.

No limit on how few or how many words are used.

Entries to be submitted to the editor, Liz, by midday on Tuesday 20th October 2020.

Please write Bill Budner Competition above the title.

The stories will be published as Story A, B, C, and so on.

The stories will be posted altogether on the evening of Tuesday 20th October 2020.

Paper copies of the stories will be given to the judge to read on Tuesday 20th October; the editor will type story A, B, C etc. on the top of each story so the judge will have no idea of the author.

As the stories will be judged by a person who is not a member of Scribblers you will be able to post comments when the stories are posted as they will not influence the judge who does not have access to the website.

The judge’s findings are non-negotiable.

The judge will award 1st 2nd and 3rd place winners only and may leave a comment for the author, or not.

Results of the competition will be published on the website on Tuesday 27th October 2020 and found on the information page.

 

Our judge for this competition is Ruth Skinner, she is a retired English graduate who has headed up the English department in a large secondary school. She is an avid reader and member of book clubs. For a while Ruth published and edited her local “Look Around Woodbridge” magazine. She has a great depth of knowledge about author’s, their styles of writing, mechanisms used in writing, and is a linguist to boot. Ruth is a very kind person and will be supportive of our efforts, so please don’t feel hesitant to enter the competition.

Good luck, happy scribbling.