Tell Us Your True Story and WIN A CASH PRIZE!

TV presenter Kate Humble has a
‘close encounter’ with an elephant hawk moth
at the launch of National Insect Week 2006

Most of us have frequent ‘Close Encounters’ with insects. With nearly 24,000 species of insect in the UK, well over a million species worldwide, and an average of 10,000 individual insects for every square metre of habitable land on the earth, it is in fact very difficult not to have frequent encounters with these hugely important and abundant creatures.

Some of these ‘Close Encounters’ will be memorable – the moment, perhaps, when you first saw the delicate beauty of a butterfly, smelt the sweetness of a bee colony’s honeycomb, heard the chirp of a grasshopper, felt the unwelcome bite of a horsefly ... or just saw for the first time an insect that you’d never seen before and wondered what it was and how it lived its life. Maybe you’ve studied an insect and seen it do something that made you think “Why did it do that?” or that helped you to understand its way of life.

We want you to tell us the true story of your most memorable ‘Close Encounter’ with insects. We’re not looking for an essay, just a short piece of about 200 words (that’s about the same as you’ve read so far on this page), with a title of no more than 5 words, that describes an encounter you’ve had with an insect (or several insects) in an interesting and informative way.

The Entomological Club (founded in 1826) has generously donated £300 for this competition (£150 for 1st Prize, £100 for 2nd Prize and £50 for 3rd Prize), to encourage people to write about their personal experiences of encounters with insects – not just the annoying wasps at late summer picnics or the biting midges and mosquitoes when on holiday, but the countless other occasions when insects come into our lives. The winning entries may be published (subject to editors’ acceptance) in the Royal Entomological Society’s bulletin Antenna or in the Amateur Entomologists’ Society’s Bug Club Magazine.

To enter the competition, just send your true story (no less than 150 words and no more than 250 words) with a title of up to 5 words, to NIW2008info@aol.com with an e-mail subject heading of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH INSECTS. You can send your story in the body of the e-mail itself or attach it to the e-mail as a document or text file (.doc, .rtf, .txt or .pdf formats accepted). Please remember to add your full name and postal address (and your age if under 18). The ‘Close Encounters’ competition will open on Monday 23 June 2008 and the closing date for receipt of entries will be Sunday 31 August 2008.

The competition is open to all, except those individuals directly involved in its organization. Stories are welcome from entrants of all ages and nationalities, but the story must be written in English. The judging panel will include: Prof. Chris Haines, NIW Co-ordinator for the Royal Entomological Society; Prof. Mike Claridge, Honorary Secretary of The Entomological Club (or an alternative nominated member of the Club); and Ms Di Burton, Managing Director of Cicada Communications (or a nominated deputy from the staff of Cicada). The ‘Close Encounters’ stories will be judged on the basis of their entomological interest and their entertaining story-telling. The judges’ decisions will be final. Winners will be notified by 30 September 2008.