Greater Manchester's 7 to11-year-olds have only a short time left to enter the Salford Lowry's annual Creative Writing Challenge.
The competition showcases the creativity of children from across Greater Manchester, and entries can include poetry, short stories or stage text.
Recently, pupils from St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Summerville Primary School and Christ Church CE Primary School visited The Lowry to get inspiration for their entries by watching the stage adaption of Onjali Rauf’s novel The Boy at the Back of the Class. The Lowry provided free transport and theatre tickets..
The adaptation is by writer and broadcaster Nick Ahad, one of the judges of this year’s challenge.
Nick said: “Since I was a little boy - probably around the age of the children who came to see the show - I've loved writing probably more than anything else. That children who saw the show might be inspired to write their own stories, is a privilege greater than I can express.”
Also on the judging panel are former Emmerdale star and author Samantha Giles (appearing at The Lowry in Kay Mellor’s The Syndicate in May); poet Tony Walsh; Mike Leyland of the National Literacy Trust and actor Carla Henry. The year’s challenge will also feature a new children’s judging panel, made up of members of a reading group from Little Hulton Library, as well as a new partnership with the University of Salford that will see a judging panel made up of students.
The Creative Writing Challenge has had support from founder Beryl Jones, who with her husband Trevor is a Gold Patron of The Lowry, the National Literacy Trust, the University of Salford, Salford Community Leisure and Williams BMW.
The Lowry’s aim is for the challenge to be accessible to as many children as possible, so entries will be accepted in a variety of formats, including written, voice recording or video. The deadline for entries is April 26.
Full info here