Ladner author and storyteller Laura Thomas has won a national grant to promote storytelling in Delta.

This summer, as a member of the Storytellers of Canada, Thomas was eligible to apply for funds to support a storytelling event on World Storytelling Day, March 20, 2011.

Applications were submitted from across the country and Thomas is one of 12 grant recipients and the only individual storyteller to receive funds.

In line with the "water" theme of World Storytelling Day, Thomas has titled her project, "Water in Words: A Short Story Contest and World Storytelling Day Event for Delta Youth."

"The purpose of Water in Words is to promote the development of young storytellers and establish World Storytelling Day as an important educational and artistic event in Delta," she said.

Thomas' event has two parts, a short story contest as well as a storytelling event.

Between Nov. 15 and Feb. 28, Thomas will be accepting short story submissions from Delta youth in grades 4 through 12. Stories must be no longer than 1,000 words, have a water theme and should be connected to the geography or community of Delta in a creative way.

Thomas will judge the stories and those who finish in the top six in both the intermediate and high school categories will be invited to attend a storytelling workshop and work with Thomas to take their stories from the print to the oral form. The young storytellers will then perform their stories at a World Storytelling Day event in Delta.

Though Thomas is still heavily involved in her Junior Authors Short Story Contest, this self-employed single parent has already started promoting her event with a poster contest.

"I could do the poster for the short story contest myself, but I can get more kids involved by making the artwork part of the overall event."

Thomas is looking for sponsors for Water in Words.

"I hope to pull this off for less than $1,000 but the Storytellers of Canada was only able to supply half of the money I need to make my budget. This would be a perfect opportunity for Delta businesses that sells products and services that are related to water," she said.

For more information about the Water in Words poster and short story contests or to become an official sponsor or volunteer, visit www.agentstory.net/water-in-words-contest.html or e-mail waterinwords@agentstory.net. You can also follow "WaterInWords" on Twitter.