National opportunities, December 2008
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Fish short story competition
 The closing date for the 2008 Fish Short Story Prize has been
extended to 14 December. First prize is €3,000 and second prize
is a week's residence at Anam Cara Writers Retreat plus €300.
Entry online remains at €20 per story, and a critique is €45. The
best ten stories will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology.
This year's judge is New York-based writer Colum McCann, author
of four acclaimed novels and two collections of short stories,
and the results will be announced on 17 March 2009. Online entry
and all details at www.fishpublishing.com
[http://www.fishpublishing.com].

Hidden: Arcadea poetry competition
 Arcadea has launched a unique online text art project on the
theme of 'Hidden', reflecting the hidden history of disabled
people. The competition is looking for a 16-line poem on the
theme of Hidden, which will be 'hidden' and linked, two lines at
a time, on the websites of eight participating mainstream arts
venues and cultural organisations in the north east of England,
until the reader finds the complete poem on Arcadea's website.
This is a national competition and any disabled person aged 17 or
over is eligible for entry. The deadline is noon on Friday 16
January 2009. For more information, see
www.arcadea.org/downloads.html
[http://www.arcadea.org/downloads.html].


Jobs etc
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Students needing playwright
 A group of students from Carlisle who are in the final year of
their Performance and Production BA are looking for a writer to
work with on one of their final productions. The piece should be
a play of around an hour, which will be performed in various
venues in May 2009. It should contain one male and two female
characters. The topic of the play is open and is something they
are willing to discuss with the writer. There will be a
negotiable fee. This would be an ideal opportunity for new
writers or writers looking for more experience of writing for
theatre. For more information contact, Ruth Darroch at
ruthied66@hotmail.com [ruthied66@hotmail.com] or call
07791089837.

Drama Practitioner sought at Customs House, South Shields
The Customs House is looking for an enthusiastic, motivated Drama
Practitioner with experience of leading young people in a youth
theatre capacity. They must have experience of devising work with
young people and directing performances. Full details and
application forms are at www.customshouse.co.uk
[http://www.customshouse.co.uk]. Closing date for applications is
17 December 2008.

Script Yorkshire: Membership and Communications Officer
The role will be to manage internal and external communications
and consolidate Script Yorkshire's growing reputation among
new-writing professionals; to build on the success of its
existing recruitment campaign and to administer all aspects of
its membership operation including the regular supply of
membership statistics to the management group. This is a 12-month
freelance contract, offered initially at an annual fee of £4,000.
You will be working from home an average of 7.5 hours per week,
organising your own time according to the demands and deadlines
of the work. For more information about Script Yorkshire, see
www.scriptyorkshire.co.uk [http://www.scriptyorkshire.co.uk]. For
a role description and details of how to apply, contact Script
Yorkshire administrator Liz Ryan at
liz.ryan@scriptyorkshire.co.uk [liz.ryan@scriptyorkshire.co.uk].
Application deadline: Friday 19 December.