Children (and adults) aged between five and 25-years-old will have the chance to showcase their writing talent yet again this year with the return of the Wicked Young Writer Awards.
Back for the sixth year running, the writing competition is now open to submissions and will include a new category for 2016 – the For Good Award for Non-Fiction – which encourages 15 to 25-year-olds to write essays or articles that recognise the positive impact that people can have on each other, their communities and the world we live in.
As in previous years, aspiring authors can still submit their fictional creations, with the usual five categories – five to seven-year-olds, eight to 10-year-olds, 11 to 14-year-olds, 15 to 17-year-olds and 18 to 25-year-olds – in place.
Be the inventions fact or fiction, entrants have until 11 March 2016 to get their creative juices flowing before their work is assessed by How To Train Your Dragon author/illustrator Cressida Cowell and her fellow members of the judging panel.
Talking about her involvement in the awards, which were created in 2010 by Wicked’s producers in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, Cowell said: “I am thrilled to be asked to be a judge for the second time. It is wonderful to be involved in an award which fires up the imaginations and confidence of these young writers. As an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, I’m a real advocate of anything that gets young people reading and writing.”
A shortlist of 120 entrants from across the UK will have their work published in the Wicked Young Writer Awards Anthology as well as being invited to an exclusive ceremony at the popular musical’s home at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, where members of the Wicked cast will join the judges in announcing the overall winner of each category.
Also announced today is Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall’s continued support for the Wicked Young Writer Awards, with the royal extending her patronage for an additional five years.
The much-loved musical tale of two sorcery students and how they came to fulfil their destinies as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, Wicked has been casting a spell over the West End since 2006. Currently booking until 5 November 2016, it is just one of the many shows that when booked through us before 26 November could give you the chance to win an incredible trip to New York.
For more information about the Wicked Young Writer Awards, including the all-important details of how to enter, visit www.wickedyoungwriterawards.com