The BBC Young Writers’ Award

We are delighted to launch the BBC Young Writers’ Award with Booktrust 2016, for its second year.

The judges are:

Queen of Teen winner, Juno Dawson
Poet, author and educator Anthony Anaxagorou
And BBC Radio 1’s Alice Levine

The inaugural 2015 Award, created to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the BBC National Short Story Award and to inspire and encourage the next generation of writers, was won by 15 year old Brennig Davies for his story ‘Skinning’; a tale inspired by William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Brennig’s three cats.

It was praised for its ‘sheer confidence of style and subject’ and told the story of a young boy who is made to skin a rabbit by his father, with a disquieting outcome.

Speaking about the success of the 2015 event and her excitement at the launch of the 2016 Award, BBC Radio 1 DJ Alice Levine said:

“Everyone remembers a book from their childhood that moved them or made them think differently about the world and it's the essence of these stories that we want to capture with the BBC Young Writers’ Award. We want this to be a chance for young people to take part in a writing project that is just for them; not for school work, or for homework, but as something that has no creative limitations and is purely for the joy of writing.

Maybe it’s a fantastical idea, or maybe it’s an idea based on reality, with an exaggeration here and a flight of fancy there, it can truly be anything! We hope this will interest new and experienced young writers alike. As the old saying goes, everyone has a novel in them, and we’re only asking for 1,000 words!

Last year we said we wanted something fresh and exciting, something that would capture the reader. We couldn't have hoped for more – creativity, originality, maturity. Amongst the entries were writers of the future. I'm honoured to be a judge the BBC Young Writers’ Award for a second year.”

KEY DATES:

• The deadline for receipt of entries for the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2016 with BookTrust is 5pm (GMT), Friday 29 April 2016.

• The BBC Young Writers’ Award 2016 with BookTrust shortlist will be announced on Saturday 1 October 2016.

• The announcement of the BBC Young Writers’ Award winner and the BBC National Short Story Award 2016 with BookTrust will be broadcast live from the Award ceremony on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row from 7.15pm on Tuesday 4 October 2016.

ENTER THE CONTEST HERE

Please note that entrants are being asked to provide personal information to Book Trust who will process it for the purposes of the BBC Young Writers’ Award in compliance with the Data Protection Act. To find out about Book Trust’s privacy policy go to http://www.booktrust.org.uk/about-us/privacy-policy/