Say hello to our new story creation tool!

Posted by Yamini Vijayan on August 21, 2017

When StoryWeaver launched in September 2015, we envisioned the platform as a creative space where the creators and readers of stories could meet. In the last 22 months we’ve been blown away by the creative talent of our community. 

We’re listening

We take feedback seriously and we’ve taken your comments about your StoryWeaver experience on board. We will be rolling out a series of upgrades across the next month, but first up is an all new story creation tool! We’ve added some cool new features, grouped tools together for easier access and made the interface even easier to use.

Watch this quick video tutorial to find out what’s new before heading over to StoryWeaver to create a brand new story on our brand new creator!

Click on the 'create' button at the top of this page to try it for yourself!

Once you’ve created a story we hope you’ll take a minute to fill out the feedback form at the end and tell us what you liked about the new design!

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Who is Ameena? Enter our new illustration contest now!

Posted by Remya Padmadas on August 09, 2017

IMPORTANT UPDATE: CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED TO AUGUST 30, 2017

Here’s your chance to illustrate a book for Pratham Books' StoryWeaver and get paid for it! 


Some of us look at the word “tree” and doodle this:

IMG_20170628_095601996.jpg

And others conjure up something like this:

 

(Illustration by Archana Sreenivasan from 'Let's Go Seed Collecting')

or this:

(Illustration by Vinayak Varma from 'Jadav and the Tree Place')

If you belong to the second category, then this contest is right up your alley!

Who is Ameena?

We have got a fabulous story coming up - 'What is Ameena Upto?', written by Roopa Banerjee. It is a charming story about a girl called Ameena and the antics she gets up to when her family isn't looking. We know Ameena is a mischievous little girl with a big imagination. But what does she look like? What does her family and her home look like? All of that is up to you! This is your chance to illustrate a children’s book for Pratham Books StoryWeaver!

Here is an extract from the story ‘What is Ameena Upto?’

Everyone’s wondering what Ameena is up to on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. After all, where did the coconut shell, the paint, the buttons, and newspaper go?

 
What you have to do:
 
We want you to draw Ameena! Upload your illustration on StoryWeaver by clicking on the button on the bottom of the page. Then send us a brief note at [email protected] telling us your vision and how you would illustrate this story. (You must send the vision note, otherwise your entry will not be considered valid.)

The contest will be judged by award-winning illustrator, art director, writer, editor and overall publishing rockstar, Vinayak Varma. If we like your Ameena and vision the most, you will be chosen to sign a contract with us. You will get two months to illustrate the whole book, which will be published by Pratham Books on StoryWeaver. And yes, it’s a paid contract.

This is a Level 1 story, which is for children who are eager to begin reading. This is how pages of level 1 books look:

(From 'What If?', written and illustrated by Hari Kumar Nair)

Contest Guidelines

  • The contest will run from August 9-30, 2017.

  • Please send your illustration notes to [email protected].

  • Participants must be over the age of 17 to participate.

  • By submitting your original art work to 'Who is Ameena?' you are agreeing to a CC-BY license being applied to it (This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation). To know more about CC-BY, click here.

Format

  • Size of illustration: 11.17 inches (width) x 5.35 inches (height). This is the recommended size as it fits neatly into one of the templates on StoryWeaver. 

  • The illustrations should be high-res (150-300 dpi).

  • Format: JPEG

  • File size for each illustration: Between 2 to 4 MB; above 4 MB will slow down the upload process

For any queries, write to us at [email protected]!

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Aao Kahaani Bune 2017 Results

Posted by Khyati Datt on August 16, 2017

A few months back, Pratham Books joined hands with Pratham and SCERT, Delhi to bring a special workshop for the SCERT Mentor Teachers in Delhi. The idea was to bring the teachers together and help them discover the storyteller within them to make classroom teaching more interactive. We conducted an extensive three-day training with these teachers (read about it here) and exchanged interesting ideas on how stories can be used to make learning interesting and classrooms more joyful!

To encourage our dear teachers to try their hands on StoryWeaver and create some resources on their own, we held a story writing contest only for the workshop participant group of the SCERT Mentor Teachers in Delhi. The contest  invited them to send entries for Aao Kahaani Bune, 2017 and for them to weave stories around certain learning objectives of their preferred subject or language!

We received an enthusiastic response on this contest and after our judges went through the entries, they selected two stories that they judged to be the best. A big thank you to all the participants for taking part, and being patient with us as the judges read through each of your wonderful stories.

The results for Aao Kahaani Bune 2017 are finally here! 

Each winner received a printed copy of their winning story and a hamper of some of  Pratham Books’ select titles. Congratulations to the winners and we hope you continue to spread the joy of reading and continue creating wonderful stories for everyone to read and enjoy .

This year, we have 2 winning finalists:
 

Neeru Puri for ‘Going To School’

Suman Rawat for ‘दर्पण से सिखाया सबक’

A big thank you to everyone who took part in the contest. Your stories are now on StoryWeaver to share with your friends, family and children across the world.

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