Organised by Pearson, the competition invites children and young people aged four to 19-years-old to submit pieces of creative writing, video clips or other entries.
The theme of Our Tomorrow is encouraging entrants to explore and reflect on the wider world and issues including climate, inclusion, family, technology, or space exploration.
Suggested ways that pupils might enter include composing a personal letter to their 100-year-old self, writing a rap about what their town might look like in 20 years’ time, or re-imagining a classic tale with a sci-fi-style makeover. Entries can be fiction, non-fiction or poems, written entries, videos, or recordings.
Entries for this year’s competition will need to be submitted by 5pm on November 26. An expert judging panel will decide on the winning pieces.
The winners will see their works published as an illustrated collection for all to read, as well as in a selection of audio stories.
The competition has been launched alongside new research from Pearson showing that reading and writing for pleasure are two of the top three skills that pupils engage with least in schools.
The research involved around 3,000 teachers and found that 17 per cent believed writing for pleasure was the skill pupils engaged with the least, followed by reading for pleasure (14 per cent). They were also concerned about presentation and public speaking skills (18 per cent).
Katy Lewis, head of English, drama and languages at Pearson, said: “Time and again, research has indicated that the benefits of reading and writing for pleasure are manifold, helping children to learn empathy, build their understanding of others, tackle key social topics, and process challenging life events.”
- To find out more about My Twist on a Tale, visit https://go.pearson.com/OurTomorrow