ASPIRING authors in Malvern are being reminded they have just over a week to submit their work to the Young Writers of the Year competition.

The competition, run by Malvern Writers’ Circle, aims to encourage young people aged 15 to 19 to put pen to paper and get creative.

But to enter the 2012 competition, potential Shakespeares, JK Rowlings and Martin Amises must send in their creations by Monday, January 16.

The judges in this year’s competition are poet and academic Julie Boden, awardwinning writer Dan Purdue and Peter Sutton, author of the play Elgar and Alice.

Entrants may submit one piece on any subject in one of three categories: 􀁥 Short story or creative prose (up to 2,000 words); 􀁥 Poetry (up to 40 lines); 􀁥 One act of a play (up to 2,000 words).

Entries must be typed or printed (not handwritten) on A4 paper using only one side of each sheet.

Sheets must be numbered and give the title of the piece, and the author’s name must not appear on the title page or the text.

Entries can be e-mailed to leblackett@aol.com or posted to Malvern Young Writers’ Competition, 27 St Ann’s Road, Malvern, WR14 4RG.

They must be accompanied by an entry form, which is available from malvernwriterscircle.

org.uk.

The winners will be invited to a presentation at Malvern College on Friday, May 6.

Fran Martel, of the Writers’ Circle, said the competition has been extremely popular in previous years attracting more than 100 entries.

“Last year we actually got a considerable number of individual entries not connected with any of the local schools, which was rather nice,” she said.

“It is always extremely well supported.”