Our Young Writers Award is a project of SSPAN designed to foster individual and community resilience. Each year we invite young people from years 7 to 12 in our local high schools to send in either a poem and/or a short story inspired by a set theme; 2020’s theme was ‘Up and Away’.

The invitation is extended to young artists in our schools to design a front cover. This is for the anthology we publish each year of all the student entries. The winning entry is that year’s front cover.

We reach out into the community to find a panel of local judges, also writers themselves, who give of their time to support their younger counterparts. It is wonderful to have some of them contribute their own short stories and poems to each year’s anthology.

Writing is a very valuable tool for building resilience. It allows the young writer to explore their experiences and to develop, not only their language skills but critical thinking and problem solving. We hope that their interest in writing, whether as a hobby or future career, will see them become lifelong learners.

In 2020, with all the disruptions to the school year because of Covid restrictions, we had too few entries to publish an anthology but those entries will be there ready to be added to the 2021 edition.

For more information email Fiona sspanproject@outlook.com