IT'S that time of year again.
Calling writers young and old, the Jersey Evening Post Writing Competition, held in conjunction with the Jersey Festival of Words and sponsored by Oakglen, is back for its tenth year, and bigger than ever.
Starting this month, young wordsmiths are being treated to a new and improved contest that gives 10-16-year-old schoolchildren the chance to unleash their imaginations and contribute to a thrilling narrative.
Starting today until the end of April, participants are being challenged to write a captivating opening chapter to a thriller story, in "The Opening Chapter - Thriller" competition, with cash prizes up for grabs.
Adult writers do not fret. The regular writing poetry and short story contest will run separately from May to July, as per previous years.
All winners' work from both competitions will also be published in the JEP during the festival, which is scheduled to take place between 19 and 28 September across several venues.
Visiting speakers for this year's event are yet to be officially announced by organisers, as well as the judging panel for the writing competitions.
Announcing the launch of this year's new and improved contest for young writers, Paul Bisson, festival committee member and former vice-chair, said: "Building upon Peter James’ involvement as our new festival patron, we’re excited to see what fictional thrills Jersey’s schoolchildren have in store for us through our new schools opening to a thriller competition.
He added: "We of course also look forward to the return of our adults’ short story and poetry categories."
In December, it was announced that best-selling crime-writer Peter James, whose novels have sold millions of copies world-wide in 38 languages, has been named as a patron of the Jersey Festival of Words.
Mr James, who moved to Jersey with his wife, Lara, in 2018 has been a committed supporter of the festival ever since. He joins author Cathy Rentzenbrink as the second festival patron.
Looking-forward to this year's line-up, Mr James said he was "extremely honoured" to be patron, and the 2025 festival is shaping-up to be the "most exciting" yet.
"The festival is very important for our island, both culturally and from a PR standpoint. I plan to use my fairly extensive network of contacts in the writing world to try to attract an even wider range of authors to come and be part of the festival in the coming years.
William Lamond, Oakglen Wealth investment director, added that the firm is "thrilled" to continue its long-running support of the writing competition.
Of the festival, he added: “It’s a celebration of storytelling in all its forms, bringing together authors, poets, and of course readers, to share in the power of words."
'The Opening Chapter - Thriller' rules:
300 word limit
Year 5-6 (£25, £50 and £75)
Year 7-9 (£25, £50 and £75)
Year 10-11 (£25, £50 and £75)
Entries for the 'The Opening Chapter - Thriller' must be submitted as an attachment to an email to writingcomp@jerseyeveningpost.com by midnight on 30 April.
Entry details for the adult's short story and poetry competitions will be announced in due course.
Competition entrants must be born or resident in Jersey and their work must not have been previously published in any public form, print or digital, or have won a prize in any other competition.
No more than two entries per person in any one category. Judges are looking for strong original work, with any use of language-generative AI strongly discouraged.
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