A story competition based on Totnes’ specially commissioned and beautiful heritage map has produced a plethora of tales as creative and engaging as the map itself, judges declare.

Budding writers were invited to get their creative juices flowing using the enormous map, which is on display in St Mary’s Church, as inspiration.

Created by local artist Anna Ventura, as well as being a snapshot of Totnes, the map also features local stories and characters including local butcher Christopher McCabe battering his way out of his freezer with a black pudding and the Totnes seal swimming around the ferry from Dartmouth; while illustrator Claudia Schmid’s border features her unique and beautiful creatures as if they were on a journey to the ancient town.

The Totnes Heritage Trust teamed up with the East Gate Bookshop to launch the short story competition for adults and children, based on the characters and features of the map.

Totnes very own poet laureate, Matt Harvey, who wrote a poem to go alongside the map, led the judging team consisting of town councillors and heritage trust members, Georgina Allen and Emily Price.

Eleven prize winners and their families were warmly welcomed to St Mary’s by Totnes Mayor, Cllr Ben Piper, who praised the success of the entrants and the ongoing hard work of the heritage trust.

The prizes were presented by Matt, a nationally known humourist and performance poet who is also host of Radio 4’s poetry cabaret Wondermentalist.

The twelfth winner, Aviva Fleisher, lives in the US but was able to join the event via a Zoom link to be congratulated by Matt and see her grandmother accept her prize on her behalf.

Matt said: “The entries were of a very high standard which made the judging difficult.

“The overall winning story, Kip Pratt’s How the Bridgetown Safari Came to be, is a colourful, mythic tale that skilfully combined elements of Totnes topography and history while simply being a great story.”

Kip’s story won the 18+group. Runners up were A Different Thought of Train by Valerie Belsey and The Tourist by Henry Knight Lozano in third place. Highly commended was Our Town by Fearn Kenyon, Where the Art Is by Judy McVey and Sunburst by Rolf Norfolk.

The three best entries in the 12 to 17 age group were The Dark Room by Kallum Howard; Just Another, Annoying, Screeching Seagull by Jessie Taylor; and Death on the Dart by Freddie Martin Wrigley.

In the Under 11 age group, the winning entries were The Raven and the Plan by Aviva Fleisher, The Map of Alberton by Lily May Hilton, and The Goblin by April Knight Lozano.

An anthology of the winning stories is being compiled.