Announcing The Annual Falling Prize

The Laboratory is delighted to announce the creation of the Annual Falling Prize, to be awarded for the most elegant fall in a household setting.

Categories

• Best Fall by a Mug
• Best Fall by a Vase
• Best Fall by a Book, with a special mention for thudding
• Most Patient Cat, awarded for the longest pause before a push

Judging

Entries will be judged by a panel of three cats and one reluctant human. Scores are given for grace, sound and the look on the owner’s face. Judges may not accept bribes unless the bribes are cheese.

How To Enter

Please send a short written description of your fall, or a drawing, or a small sample of the debris. Photographs are welcome, but only if the cat approves.

Rules

Entries must be genuine falls. Staged falls are permitted only if the cat looks sincere. No entry may be weighted, glued or tied, and no entry may contain a person lying on the floor pretending to be a vase.

Past Winners

Though this is our first year, the committee has retrospectively awarded prizes to the most memorable falls of previous years. These include the Great Lamp Slide, the Shelf Collapse of the Spring and a spoon which, we are told, simply gave up.

Deadline

Entries close at the end of the season or at the first sign of the Professor napping on the form, whichever happens first.

Sponsorship

The Prize is proudly supported by the Biscuit Trust, who have generously donated a biscuit. Additional sponsors are welcome. Opportunities include naming a category, sponsoring a shelf, or lending a cat for the ceremony.

The winner will receive a golden trophy shaped like a teacup. It will be placed on a shelf, where it will be pushed off, and we expect to award it twice.