Title Transcript 7_Short_Story_competition.pdf ✅

Tapescript 4_Short Story Competition This is the IELTS listening test. You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only. The test is in four parts. At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Now turn to part one. Part 1 You will hear a telephone conversation between the organizer of a short story competition and someone who wishes to take part in the competition. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6. Organiser: Good morning, Dave speaking. Interested candidate: Oh, hi, I'm phoning about a short story competition and I saw an advert in a magazine and I was just calling to get some details. Organiser: Yes. Certainly. I'm the competition organizer. So I should be able to help. What kind of details are you looking for? Interested candidate: Well, does it cost anything to enter? Organiser: Yes, there's an entry fee of five pounds.
Interested candidate: Okay, that should be fine. Organiser: It's a short story competition. So how many words is that? Interested candidate: Well, we want to give people a reasonable amount of freedom, but the guidelines are around three thousand words. Interested candidate: Oh, That sounds quite a lot. Organiser: Well, it's not as much as it used to be. We did have a limit of five thousand words, but some people thought that was too many. So this year we've reduced it. Interested candidate: Right. And does the story need to be about anything in particular? Organiser: No, you can write about any topic you like but the main point of the competition is that it has to have a surprise ending. Interested candidate: Oh, I see! That sounds interesting. I don't think I've ever written a story like that before. Organiser: Yes. It's something we've introduced for this year's competition. Interested candidate: Right. I'm 18. Is there any age limit? Organiser: Yes, you need to be 16 or over. So if you're 18, that's fine. Interested candidate: Great. So you have the competition once a year. Is that right?
Organiser: Yes, we start advertising in January and the competition takes up a lot of the year. We give people a few months to write their story and then it takes quite a long time to judge all the entries and to announce the winners. Interested candidate: I see. So when is the closing date for the competition? It's already April. I hope I'm not too late. Organiser: No, you've still got plenty of time. You need to submit your entry by the 1st of August. After that, it will be too late. Although, you can always enter next year's competition. Interested candidate: Okay, good. So, how do I enter? Organiser: Well, we have a website and the best way to enter is to complete the entry form online. We also have more details of the competition on the site. Shall I give you the web address? Interested candidate: Yes, please. Organiser: Okay, it's www dot comp4ss dot com. And that's the number four not the word four. Interested candidate: Ok. Thanks! I’ve got that. So I can complete the entry form online. But how do I send the story? Do I print it out and send it to you? Organiser: Well, you may want to print the story out, so you can review it. But don't post it to us. When you've finished your story, you will need to email it to us. The email address is on the website, I gave you. Interested candidate: Okay. That’s fine.
Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you will have some time to look at the questions 7 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. Interested candidate: Can you tell me a bit about how the competition is judged and what the prices are? Organiser: Yes, of course. Well, once we have all the entries, I send them to all the judges. Our competition is quite popular. So we are lucky to be able to use famous authors who are very interested in the competition. Interested candidate: That’s fantastic. It's great to know that someone famous will be reading my story. Organiser: Yes. That's right. It takes them quite a while to read through the entries, but eventually they decide on the top 5 stories. Interested candidate: I see and what happens then? Organiser: Well, they will be published online. So everyone can read them. They will not be in any order at this point. They will just be the five stories that the judges think are the best. Interested candidate: And do all the top five stories get prizes? Organiser: No, it's just the top story and the runner-up. Interested candidate: So how is the top story decided?