Celebrate Wor Dialect with The Word

Lads, lasses and bairns of all ages, are invited to gan online for a celebration of wor dialect.

Following the success of its previous exhibitions featuring the language of the North East, The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, at South Shields, is hosting a day of online celebrations, on Saturday 13 March.

And highlights will include a first chance to hear two specially commissioned folk songs and the announcement of the winners of the Lost Words Dialect Writing Competition.

The day of online celebrations is inspired by the Word Bank of Lost Dialects - a collection of 2400 words and phrases donated by visitors to The Word.

These words formed the framework of the competition, which was open to young and adult writers alike and the winner of each category will be announced on The Word's YouTube channel at 10am.

Viewers can watch and hear readings from the winning entries and there will also be a digital anthology of those and other shortlisted stories to enjoy.

The competition is in partnership with The Northumbrian Words Project and there will be cash prizes for the winners of the adult and junior categories.

Andy Bogle, of The Northumbrian Words Project, said: "We've been delighted with the number and quality of the entries we received. Entrants have really explored and used our North East dialect to great effect."

To keep the dialect alive, The Word also commissioned local singer songwriter Jen Stevens to create three new North East songs.

The first, Hadaway Ga'an Canny, was unveiled in February and the remaining two will be released on the venue's YouTube channel at around midday.

Cllr Joan Atkinson, Deputy Leader of South Tyneside Council with responsibility for Culture and Leisure, said: "The response to Jen's first song has been fantastic so we know people will be very keen to hear the others.

"They really are folk songs for our era and a great way of bringing our North East language to life."

For the remainder of the day, The Word will be sharing some of its favourite past dialect events and videos on its social media channels: Facebook: /worduk

Twitter: @TheWord_UK

Those interested in viewing the YouTube content must register their interest online, to receive an email link to the YouTube video directly on the day.

For more information visit www.theworduk.org.