British Czech and Slovak Association running second writing competition
Radio Prague is currently running a competition, details of which you can find elsewhere on our website. By coincidence, the British Czech and Slovak Association are also offering a prize for the best written submission at the moment. When she visited Prague recently, the editor of the association's review, Angela Spindler-Brown, told David Vaughan about their competition.
"The British Czech and Slovak Association started the competition last year and basically we are looking for essays which would describe any connection between Britain and the Czech and Slovak states. Any historical connection or contemporary connection, anything about culture, historical, economic relations, and also about the transition. The competition is structured to be as open as possible so there are basically no restrictions. The restriction is to have it written in English and the content shouldn't be more than 2,000 words."
This is the second year of the competition. I read last year's winning essay - it was about George Eliot and the novelist's little-known connection with Prague.
"Yes, that's right, the winning essay was about George Eliot, but other essays dealt with much more contemporary issues. There was also an essay about the Sokol meeting, Sokol slet, in 1948..."
Sokol being the Czech patriotic physical exercise organisation.
"Yes, and in '48 it was basically their last independent meeting."
The competition is open at the moment which means that our listeners or people who look at our website would have the chance to enter themselves - what do they have to do?
"They just need to write the essay, 2,000 words, and then send it either by email to [email protected] or a hard copy should be sent to Prize Administrator, 24 Ferndale, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 3NS, England. The winning essays will be published in a review which the BCSA publishes six times a year. So the winning essay will be published in November and the prize, which is 300 pounds, will be awarded at the BCSA's annual dinner which takes place in London."
You can find out more about the British Czech and Slovak Association at www.bcsa.co.uk
