Launch of the second Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing Prize

Penguin Random House Children’s is delighted to announce the launch of the second Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing Prize, supported this year by First News, the National Literacy Trust and WH Smith.

Last year’s prize saw over 4,000 entries and an incredible winning story with a terrific twist by 11-year-old Emily Weston. 

Seven-to-twelve-year-olds, resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland, can now enter to win The Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing Prize by following this link. The closing date is noon on Friday 8th September 2017. To tie in with the theme of Jacqueline’s new book, Wave Me Goodbye, which features evacuees in World War II, children are being asked to ‘write a letter to someone who lives far away’. Entries should be no longer than 750 words.

There’s plenty of opportunity for creativity and imagination. The letter could be to an imagined relative, or friend. Children could write to an imaginary person who lives in another country or travel back in time in history (just as long as the letters are fictional and don’t reference real people). They could even create a futuristic world where they may be writing to someone on another planet.

The incredible ‘money-can’t-buy’ prize is the fact that the winning letter will be published in a forthcoming book by Jacqueline Wilson.

As well as this, the winner will also have a chance to meet Jacqueline Wilson and will receive £100 worth of books and a year’s subscription to First News, with a bundle of books also being sent to their school.

Speaking of the competition, Jacqueline Wilson said: “All the evacuee children in my new book Wave Me Goodbye have to write letters home so they can keep in touch with their families.  Children are more used to texting and emailing nowadays - but I think it's important to know how to write a stylish, interesting literate letter.  It's a way of honing your language skills and truly expressing yourself.  Most importantly, letters last!  You can keep and treasure them forever.  I do hope lots of children are inspired to write a brilliant letter for the competition.” 

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust added: “Letter writers are better writers, which is why we’re so delighted to be supporting this year’s Jacqueline Wilson Creative Writing Prize. Not only does letter writing help children express their thoughts, process their emotions and spark their imaginations but our research also shows that children who write letters are twice as likely to write above the expected level for their age compared with children who don’t write letters at all. The chance to have your letter published in a Jacqueline Wilson book is wonderful inspiration to get writing. Good luck!” WH Smith will also distribute over 40,000 booklets featuring Jacqueline Wilson’s letter writing tips.

To discover more about Creative Responsibility and out commitment to literacy for all, read here.