Celebrating Prayer in England is the name of the competition sponsored by Christ Church City and run by the Diocese of Bristol's Department for Children and Young People. It marks this year's 350th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer.
Prizes of £500 will be awarded to schools and each winning pupil will be presented with a specially bound and inscribed copy of the Book of Common Prayer. Prunella Scales is a member of The Prayer Book Society which promotes and preserves the use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The competition is open to all schools, local authority and independent, in Bristol.
The prizes are as follows, with further information available in the submission forms (downloadable from this page):
- Key Stage 1 children aged between five and seven will be invited to create paintings on the theme “Lighten our Darkness”, the opening words of the Third Collect spoken during the service of Evening Prayer.
- Key Stage 2 pupils aged between seven and eleven will produce posters and written work explaining ‘Sin and what is it?” The topic is inspired by the words which form part of the General Confession used at both the Morning and Evening Prayer services: ‘We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things we ought not to have done.’
- Secondary school pupils aged between 11 and 16 will write an essay on the topic “War and Peace”, a reference to one of the intercessions used at Morning and Evening Prayer: ‘Give peace in our time, O Lord. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.’
More information about Christ Church City's year long prgramme of events is available here.
