02/06/08 - TWO amateur authors are being given the chance to showcase their work at a Darlington story-telling festival.

A short story competition is being run by Darlington Council as part of its Making Waste Work campaign, which aims to get everyone in Darlington to think about the waste they produce and to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible.

As part of the campaign, the Council is inviting writers to pen a short story, of no more than 2,000 words, on the theme of Making Waste Work.

The story could look at what will happen if we don’t all recycle, suggest new ways we can go green or feature Darlington’s own superhero Street Scene Man – as long as it fits the reduce, reuse, recycle theme.

There are two categories – one for children up to the age of 16 and one for adults.

The winning story in each category will be read at the annual Darlington Story-Telling Festival at Drinkfield Nature Reserve on Saturday August 2 and will be published on the Council’s Making Waste Work website.

The authors will also receive a goody bag of green products.

Nick Wallis, Darlington Council’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Environment and Climate Change, said: “We know there are a lot of creative people in Darlington and this is a great opportunity for two people to have their work read by professional storytellers.

”I hope the theme really captures people’s imaginations and I can’t wait to read all the entries.”

Entries should be sent to Story Competition, Darlington Council, Room 112, Town Hall, Darlington, DL1 5QT by Tuesday July 1. To help reduce the amount of paper we all use, stories can also be e-mailed to town.crier@darlington.gov.uk

All entries must be original fiction, no more than 2,000 words long and have not been published before.

The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into