[PRESS RELEASE]
Writing competition: “Conversation with The Little Prince”
On Monday June 29, 2020, to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of writer-pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the Fondation Antoine de Saint-Exupéry pour la Jeunesse, Labo des Histoires and #LEARNINGPLANET are jointly launching a writing competition in French and English - soon to be available in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Russian - aimed at young people (1) around the world.
Based on the film The Little Prince from director Mark Osborne, the video trailer contest features an imaginary encounter between the film's young protagonist and The Little Prince, who came to visit her during the recent period of confinement that simultaneously affected almost all the world's children.
To take part in the writing competition, young people are invited to write a short excerpt from the conversation sparked by this encounter, giving free rein to their imagination by evoking the reflections inspired by the unique experience of isolation they have just undergone, talking about their concerns, dreams or hopes for our planet, sharing a little of the universal wisdom of the Little Prince, or giving us the news of what they have learned from him since his last visit to Earth.
The competition is open until midnight (GMT) on November 30, 2020. An international jury will then select some of the best stories, in the various competition languages, to be published online. Some of the young winners will also be honored as part of the #LearningPlanet Festival (2) and the celebration of International Education Day on January 24, 2021.
To find out all about the “Conversation with The Little Prince” writing competition, visit : https://www.learning-planet.org/fr/prince#
(1) Participation is open to anyone born after 01/01/1995.
(2) The #LearningPlanet Festival 2021 will feature a range of online and/or orchestrated activities in multiple learning venues, including partner school networks. To find out more, visit https://www.learning-planet.org/fr/festival
Press contact
Agence The Desk : Aurélie Bois / 06 87 26 27 68 / aurelie@agencethedesk.com
CRI #LearningPlanet: Olivier Bréchard / 06 22 63 13 97 / olivier.brechard@cri-paris.fr
About
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation
The Fondation Antoine de Saint Exupéry pour la Jeunesse was created in 2009, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, by the family of the author of The Little Prince and his admirers from the aeronautical and literary worlds. Its aim is to pass on the memory of Antoine de Saint Exupéry by promoting his values and his universal humanist message among young people. The foundation is faithful to the spirit of the great French writer and aviator when he urged us to build a society based on respect for mankind, cultural diversity, solidarity, universal brotherhood, commitment and individual responsibility. His philanthropic actions in the fields of education, culture and the fight against illiteracy, in France and around the world, aim to improve the daily lives of young people by helping them to better understand their future. For further information www.fasej.org/ @fasej.fondation
The Story Lab
Le Labo des histoires is a non-profit association founded in 2011, dedicated to writing. Every day, it offers a wide variety of free writing workshops for children, teenagers and young adults under the age of 25 in several territories in France and overseas. In these workshops, supervised by experienced professionals, all artistic fields in which writing plays a major role are represented: autobiography and fiction, song lyrics, comic strip texts and dialogues, screenplays, poetry and more. The association offers educational resources and training or awareness-raising sessions in creative writing. Each year, Le Labo des histoires organizes an international writing competition based on the works of Antoine de Saint Exupéry: The Eighth Planet of the Little Prince (2017), The Aerial to Connect Youth (2018), The Ocean Log (2019). More information on http://labodeshistoires.com/lbh/
#LEARNINGPLANET
Launched in 2019 by CRI (cri-paris.org/en) and UNESCO (en.unesco.org/), #LearningPlanet is an international initiative structured around 4 priorities, in partnership with numerous players in the fields of education, science, culture, the environment and social impact:
- Promoting projects that enable learners to collectively solve complex challenges such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations.
- The celebration of learning, formal and informal, at the heart of necessary transitions, enabling everyone, at every age, to take better care of themselves, others and the planet. This is what the #LearningPlanet Festival is all about.
- The development, through the creation of a #LearningPlanet Open Campus, of digital solutions for learning communities (schools, universities, cities and regions, etc.) wishing to solve challenges linked to the SDGs...
- International advocacy of children's rights and the rights of learners, ensuring that young people are increasingly involved in decisions concerning their learning and their future. Conversation with The Little Prince is precisely in line with this approach.
More information on www.learning-planet.org/fr
