A story writing competition launched by the Hungarian National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih)
For the first time, the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih)’s Wasteless programme is launching a national storytelling competition to raise awareness of food waste through the creativity of young people.
The Bites of Tales: Stories without Leftovers competition aims at the youngest generations to raise awareness of the importance of reducing food waste and sustainable eating habits through storytelling. The best pieces will appear in print in a storybook.
The world of fairy tales has always played an important role in developing children’s imagination while conveying values and lessons. This story-writing competition is a new initiative by the Wasteless programme, which encourages young people to discover the problem of food waste and express their thoughts through their own stories. Food waste is a huge problem worldwide: a third of all food produced globally (around 1.3 billion tonnes) goes to waste every year. In Hungary, households produce an average of 62 kg of food waste per person per year, 41% of which could be avoided by paying more attention. The goal of the Wasteless programme is to help reduce this number through education and awareness-raising. The story writing competition is not only part of this effort but also provides an opportunity for children interested in creative writing and promotes sustainable decision-making.
The story writing competition will be launched on the first day of the Sustainability Week (7th of April) during which Nébih’s Education and Wasteless programmes will meet hundreds of students through their interactive food waste prevention courses. The application to the competition is open during and after the Week until June.
Entries are invited from three age groups: primary, secondary and high school. The stories will be judged by a professional jury, which will take into account originality, story creativity and consistency with sustainability. The authors of the best pieces will receive valuable prizes and their stories will be published in a book by Nébih. In addition, prizes will be granted to the most active school and the author of the public’s favourite story.
Deadline for entries: 1 June 2025.
The organisers hope that the competition will help more children and young people learn about the importance of reducing food waste while inspiring readers through exciting and creative stories.