Wicked Young Writer Awards 2019 launch event at the Loogabarooga Literary Festival with Dan Freedman (author) and Laura Pick (Wicked cast member). Picture: Ellie Kurttz
The organisers of the Wicked Young Writer Awards have announced the 120 finalists who are in the running for this year’s awards which will take place at the London home of Wicked, the Apollo Victoria Theatre on 20 June 2019.
Now in its ninth year, the finalists were chosen by a judging panel headed by author Cressida Cowell for the fifth consecutive year alongside long-standing judges Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, the executive producer of Wicked Michael McCabe and Nicky Cox, editor-in-chief of First News. The panel this year also included two poets, Inua Ellams and Hussain Manawar.
Championed by The Duchess of Cornwall, who will continue to serve as patron of the awards until 2020, the Wicked Young Writers Awards raise money for the National Literacy Trust which campaigns to improve public understanding of the vital importance of literacy.
Almost 40,000 young people entered this year’s competition, with over 4,500 pieces of work submitted for consideration with a rise in entries from individuals and primary schools in the eight-ten years category and from the 11-14 age category.
Commenting on this year’s competition, the head judge Cowell, the author and illustrator of the popular How To Train Your Dragon series said: “I love judging this competition because it is so exciting to know that you are encouraging young people to write for the joy of it. There are no rules in this competition, they can just write about whatever excites and interests them. And that’s the way to find future writers.”
Judging panel newcomer, Manawer added: “I was very impressed by the use of vocabulary, imagination and style of writing in the awards. I also found the range of people from different backgrounds who entered refreshing.”
Launched in 2010, the prestigious awards were created by the producers of the multi-award-winning musical Wicked in collaboration with Michael Morpurgo and the National Literacy Trust recognise excellence in writing, encourage creativity and develop writing talent in young people.
As in previous years the awards cover five different age categories encompassing young people aged five to 25 years of age. For the fourth year the event will include the FOR GOOD Award for Non-Fiction which encourages 15-25-year olds to write essays or articles that recognise the positive impact that people can have on each other, their communities and the world in general. The category celebrates the Wicked: For Good programme, which supports the charitable causes at the heart of the stage musical.
The overall winners from each category will win £50 book/eBook tokens, and the 5-14-year-old winners will receive £100 worth of books for their school library donated by Hachette Children’s Group. Winners in the 15-17 and FOR GOOD categories will also win an exclusive writing experience with one of the awards’ literacy partners. Winners (18-25) will also receive a self-publishing package from Spiderwize to publish their own work. The three schools that submit the most entries will also win a Creative Writing Workshop for their school for up to 30 pupils delivered by Wicked’s education team.
The winner of the FOR GOOD Award for Non-Fiction will win work experience at First News newspaper, shadowing the editor and judging panel member, Nicky Cox.
Winners in all categories receive a VIP family experience at the West End production of Wicked, including tickets, an exclusive backstage tour and a meet-and-greet with members of the cast. All finalists’ entries are printed in the Wicked Young Writer Awards Anthology.
Angela Thomas
Tickets for Wicked are available HERE
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