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They've inspired tales which have enchanted children for years – now the animals of Cardiff Castle are fronting the capital’s first children’s literature festival.

But this set of colourful characters need to be named before the Cardiff Children’s Literature Festival gets under way this month.

Media Wales has teamed up with the festival on World Book Day to offer Cardiff youngsters a chance to win tickets to the festival, books and a signed print of the crew if they can come up with creative literary-themed names for each animal by March 14.

The competition will be judged by illustrator Huw Aaron, who created these creatures especially for the festival. He said: “The castle animals are well known to the people of the city and the millions of the visitors, so they were the ideal image for the very first Cardiff Children’s Literature Festival.”

He added: “We want children to be imaginative in choosing suitable names for the five, maybe characters from their favourite book, and we have some wonderful prizes in store for the winner.”

See the individual animals below, and fill in your suggested names in the survey underneath

This isn’t the first time the animals of Cardiff Castle have played a part in children’s literature.

Shortly after the Animal Wall was built in 1931, South Wales author Dorothy Howard Rowlands crafted a series of stories based on their imagined night-time adventures.

Published in the South Wales Echo, The Keepers of the Wall stories delighted children across Cardiff in the years before World War Two.

Now they have been reimagined to promote the week-long festival, produced by Cardiff council in partnership with Literature Wales, Cardiff University and the National Museum of Wales.

No page will be left unturned, with talks and workshops on topics ranging from princesses and mermaids to aliens and time-travelling with Doctor Who, all taking place across the city.

Highlights will include talks from How to Train Your Dragon creator Cressida Cowell, The Fast Show comedian and author Charlie Higson and Welsh Children’s Laureate Eurig Salisbury.

See below: Some of the real statues on the animal wall

The festival is geared to appeal to a range of ages – from youngsters with their noses stuck in books or grown-ups who’d like to write them. During the week, more than 2,500 schoolchildren will attend free sessions with children’s writers in both Welsh and English.

For the full programme, visit: www.cardiffchildrenslitfest.com

To enter our competition, send your name ideas to elena.cresci@walesonline.co.uk by March 14, or complete our poll. The winner will be announced at the festival’s launch on March 20.