Great Northern Festival
The 25th Great Northern Festival (GNF) for Audio Visual sequences took place in Manchester over the weekend of 30th/31st November. Within the Festival there are two competitions, one for the experts and, one that is known as New Horizons.
The main competition is open to all residents of Great Britain, including Northern & Southern Ireland, and overseas residents if they are attending. The New Horizons Competition is a restricted category for those authors who have not previously won awards in a major competition. Authors receive verbal feedback on the day from the Judges and written feedback after the Competition.
Jim Waddington entered the New Horizons competition as he has done in previous years, with his latest sequence ‘My Private Peaceful’. This is a sequence about a soldier in the trenches who goes over the top into enemy lines and gets shot and dies. The story was written by a twelve-year-old girl for a school project and narrated very professionally with great passion.
The surprise came during the prize giving when Jim was awarded ‘highly commended’ and a Great Northern Ribbon for his sequence. He is still on cloud nine.