The Tolkien Mailing Competition (“TLV” abbreviated from its Hungarian equivalent “Tolkien Levelező Verseny”) takes place for the 8th time this year. In the previous years it was organised only in Hungarian, and only for Hungarians. Competitors were school groups of the 10–18-year-old. They competed in three categories of different difficulty level, called Hobbits, Dúnedain and Noldor. Every year we had more than a hundred participants from all over the country, who were interested in the world created by Tolkien. But now, for the very first time, we’re going international!

This new international category, called Quendi, is open to individual participants. Both the challenges and the communication will be entirely in English—but don’t be afraid! You won’t need to be perfect in English to take part in the Competition. You only have to be able to understand the texts by Tolkien, and to write an essay—it won’t need to be of university level. 

Originally we announced the Quendi category for the age group between 15 and 35, but seeing the international responses, we reconsidered this. The competition is still recommended for the "young adult" age group, because it was originally meant for schoolchildren, and we do not plan to make big changes in the style. But the application is open for anybody who feels young enough for this game - altough it can be too childish for adults or the competition too strong for the 15-years-olds.

At the same time, we set a maximum limit of 60 for the number of participants. The number of applications is still very far from this limit, but if it exceeds the limit, then we would prefer that at least half of the participants should be younger than 35. So we kindly ask everyone and especially those under 35 who are interested in the competition, to apply as soon as possible and thus leave us time to plan the process. 

Participation in the Quendi category requires a thorough knowledge of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and perhaps The Children of Húrin. Some questions (riddles, quizzes, etc.) will refer to other works by Tolkien, but you will have about four weeks for each round, so you will have enough time to look up in the books everything you need.

 

 

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