Language Society Launches First Schools Competition

Primary school children are being urged to express themselves in Ulster-Scots in a new competition. More than 200 schools in the North-Eastern Board Area of Northern Ireland have been invited to take part in the competition, which is being promoted by the Ulster-Scots Language Society and sponsored by the Ulster-Scots Agency.

Entitled ‘Ate up, ye’r at yer Grannie’s!’ the competition allows for a wide range of educational expression based around the theme of food, cooking, or the kitchen. Nearly £2,000 worth of prizes will be available for primary school classes and individual pupils in the P5 – P7 age bracket, which have until Friday March 21 to submit their entries in audio, visual or print format.

The competition, which is being organised on a cross community basis, has a deliberately broad remit. Language Society chairman Anne Smyth explained: “By using the theme ‘Ate up, ye’r at yer Grannie’s!’ we really want to try and encourage children to find those Ulster-Scots words which have no Irish or English equivalent, such as ‘fare’ or ‘champ’ – words which are used on a regular basis in many rural kitchens.

“How children want to express the language is up to them. We very much look forward to assessing drama, song, poetry or written work!
“What we will be looking for however is creativity, originality and good Ulster-Scots content.”

Entries are welcomed in any format: audio, visual or print.  However, the judging committee will be looking for:

• Creativity and originality
• Ulster-Scots content

Competition Categories
There are two competitions running, one for P5 – P7 (inclusive) class entries and one for best individual use of Ulster-Scots. The prizes are as follows:

The McCulloch Prize: This prize is in recognition of the contribution to the Language revival of Isobel McCulloch – a founder member and long-standing secretary of the Ulster-Scots Language Society. This will be awarded to the school for the best class effort. There will be prizes of £1000, £500 and £250 towards computer equipment for schools.

The Gregg Memorial Prize: This prize is in recognition of the contribution of Professor RJ Gregg to the study of the Ulster-Scots language. This will be awarded to the best individual example. The prizes will be £100, £50 and £25 of book tokens.

The competition is designed to take place over the spring period, with a final date for submission set as Friday March 21, and a presentation ceremony planned shortly after.