Calling children of the UK!
The National Young Writers’ Awards have just officially launched a free writing competition for children across the UK, judged by best-selling author of the Charlie & Lola, Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort books, Lauren Child and organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning. There’s a wonderful prize of a family trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school up for grabs and details are below.
The competition runs until Tuesday 7th June
The theme this year is ‘The Mash-Up’ where children are encouraged to write a 500 word story that is a ‘mash-up’ of two genres. This could see a spaceman rocketed to Roman times, an alien landing in the lost city of Atlantis, a Victorian gentleman trekking the outback or your favourite fairy-tale character taking on blood-thirsty zombies – just let your imagination go wild!
Lauren Child says: “Being able to write well is a wonderful thing. If you can write well, you can communicate your ideas, thoughts and feelings. If you can write beautifully, you have the power to move people with the stories you tell. The National Young Writers’ Awards celebrate the individual, encouraging children to find a voice of their own, to explore story-telling and see that the possibilities are endless.”
Lauren and the team at Explore Learning will present the winner with a trophy, their trip to Paris and fantastic collection of books during a surprise assembly at their school in June. The top nine runners up will receive a personalised engraved Sheaffer pen while each centre will select their regional winner who will be awarded a prize courtesy of the folks at National Stationery Week.
Carey Ann Dodah, Head of Curriculum at Explore Learning says: “We are absolutely thrilled that Lauren Child is our judge for 2016! Children all over the world love her stories, characters and illustrations and we know that having her judging the top entries will inspire children to get their creative juices bubbling.
“This year’s theme is inspired by something that is huge in popular culture at the moment – a mash-up which we hope will really excite the children as there’s such vast scope for creativity. The aim of the competition is to encourage children to let loose, have confidence in their writing and not be afraid to enter a competition where they could be named victorious. You never know, we may have the next Lauren Child in our midst!”
