Once Upon A Time In Stirling…

– Budding storytellers from local schools have the chance to become published authors thanks to Christmas story competition from Thistles, Stirling –

As the countdown to Christmas begins, Thistles shopping centre, Stirling has launched an exciting Christmas storytelling competition open to all local primary schools as part of its ongoing #ThistlesHelps campaign, which aims to give back to the local community.

Just in time for Santa arriving, aspiring authors across Stirling and Forth Valley are invited to submit their own original Christmas story to be in with a chance of winning a visit to their school from Alan Windram, author of the 2019 BookBug Picture Book Prize winning, One Button Benny.

On Christmas Eve, whether they have been naughty or nice, all the boys and girls from Stirling and beyond will be able to tune in (with the help of their grown up) to the Thistles Facebook page where the winning story will be read out by Santa as the perfect bedtime story before the big day arrives. And if that wasn’t enough, the winning story will then be published and sold with all proceeds donated to the winning school’s 2023 fundraising efforts.

Gary Turnbull, Centre Director at Thistles, said: “We’re always looking for ways to support our local community as part of our ongoing #ThistlesHelps campaign and this Christmas we really wanted to support our local primary schools by helping to top up their fundraising efforts which we know they all work so hard on throughout the year.

“We hope the children are excited by the chance to have author Alan Windram visit their school and we can’t wait to read their story submissions.”

Alan Windram, Author, commented: “Nothing beats the imagination of children, I am sure that there will be lots of wonderful submissions to the Thistles Christmas story competition. I’m really looking forward to seeing the stories they come up with and working with the winning school to help them turn their idea in to a published book.”

Schools interested in taking part in the competition should email thistles@mucklemedia.co.uk for more information. They have until 5pm on Monday 5th December to submit their story.