The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 children’s script writing competition. The focus of the competition was on the theme of migration in the Roman Empire. We had a fantastic response with great scripts taking people from Briton to Syria or from Pompeii to Egypt, but the script which was ahead of all others in quality, imagination and humour was the account of the recruitment of a soldier from Africa into the Roman army by a triumvirate of writers from St Paul’s Way Trust School. Congratulations to: Ayies, Tahsin, and Zeeshan.

The winning script from the children’s script writing competition 2016 has now been made into an animation and is available to view on YouTube. ‘A Day in the Life of a Roman Client’ was written by Kien Powell (in Year 9 at Stow School at the time of entry into the competition). Ray Laurence, Professor of Roman History and Archaeology, edited Kien’s script and arranged for Malachi James, a student at the London College of Communication taking a BA in Animation, to make the film.

Working with Malachi James created a very different feel to this film from those Ray had worked on previously, such as A Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome and Four Sisters in Ancient Rome. As Malachi explained, he wanted to create a film that drew on the traditions of cartoons, such as those of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and had a strong emphasis on drawing by hand.

These projects were generously funded by the University of Kent’s Public Engagement Fund and by the School of European Culture and Languages.

The animation is available to view here.