Writers have until 31 August to submit entries to two categories: short stories and flash fiction writing.
One of the judges, Paul Bisson, is an English teacher who hopes to see as many young writers as possible taking part in the competition, which is sponsored by Rathbones Investment Management International, and has cash prizes of £100 for winners and £50 for runners-up.
He said that at this stage of the summer holidays, children might be getting a little bit bored with the beach, meaning they had a perfect opportunity to sit down and pen a short story.
The writing competition is organised in partnership with the Jersey Festival of Words, which runs from 27 September to 1 October, and will involve a prize-giving ceremony during the event.
Also, all of the winning entries, as well as some ‘highly commended’ pieces, will be published in a supplement included with the JEP.
The judging panel for the competition comprises Mr Bisson, who is also the Jersey Festival of Words vice-chairman, Rathbones director Grant Hamilton, Haute Vallée School head of English Kate Sibcy, author Deborah Carr (who writes as Georgina Troy) and JEP features editor Ramsay Cudlipp.
Writers are split into four age categories for the short-story section (ages 6-8, 9-13, 14-16, and 17 and over) but the flash-fiction category, where writers have a maximum of 127 words, is open to all ages. There is a maximum word limit of 2,000 for short stories and a limit of 127 words in flash fiction – two more than the maximum of 125 in 2015, which coincided with the JEP’s 125th anniversary.
Rathbones is sponsoring prizes of £100 for each category winner, as well as prizes of £50 and £25 for runners-up and third placed entries. The closing date for submissions, which must be sent by email to writingcompetition@jerseyeveningpost. com, is midnight on Thursday 31 August. Entrants must be resident in Jersey.
