Halloween Pumpkin Carving Competition

Organised by the Victorian Popular Fiction Association, the competition is open to members and non-members. Inspired by Kerry Featherstone’s found poem based on the closed captions for the #VPFAReligion colloquium keynote, we are inviting you to carve a pumpkin relating to an author, theme, topic or scene in a work of Victorian Popular Fiction. This can be interpreted as broadly as you like and carvings can be in the form of a face or a scene etched into the surface of the pumpkin.

Please email a photograph of your entry in the form of a JPG file to vpfamedia@gmail with your name (and Twitter handle if you have one) together with a title and brief statement or relevant quotation to explain your pumpkin carving to a general audience. This information should be submitted in the body of your email and should be less than 280 characters. Deadline for submission of entries is Sunday 31st October 2021 at 5pm GMT.

A gallery of entries will be posted on the VPFA Facebook page and Twitter account on Halloween after the deadline. A prize of a year’s free membership of VPFA will be awarded to the most ingenious and skilful representation of an author, theme, topic or scene in Victorian Popular Fiction as decided by our panel of judges: Kerry Featherstone (poet and keynote speaker #VPFAReligion), Anne-Marie Beller (keynote speaker #VPFAReligion & VPFJ Editorial Board) & Ann-Marie Richardson (VPFA Networking & Development Committee). The winner will be notified via email after the deadline has passed and announced publicly on the VPFA Twitter feed and Facebook page and will be featured in the next VPFA newsletter.

Kerry’s poem “HeartFelt Thanks to the Victorian Pumpkin Fiction Association” can be read here: https://victorianpopularfiction.org/heartfelt-thanks-to-the-victorian-pumpkin-fiction-association/