Budding writers have less than a month to put the finishing touches to their entries in the Hall Caine Prize for Creative Writing 2015/16.
The deadline for entries in the competition, which is open to students aged 21 and under who are in full-time education in the Isle of Man, is Friday, January 22.
This year, entrants are invited to write a short story, a memoir or the opening chapter of a novel with the theme of Echoes.
The prize is named after Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, a best-selling novelist in the late 1800s and early 1900s who made the island his home and who served as a Member of the House of Keys.
Hall Caine’s great granddaughter Gloria Rukeyser sponsors the prize to foster the love of writing.
Teachers from the Department of Education and Children’s primary and secondary schools and King William’s College judge the prize, looking for strong characterisation, good narrative flow and, above all, imaginative story-telling.
The prize has four categories: Primary, in which entrants must write up to 500 words, with prizes of £100, £75 and £50; Key Stage 3 – up to 1000 words with prizes of £150, £100 and £50; Key Stage 4 – up to 1,500 words with prizes of £175, £125 and £75 and Key Stage 5/Isle of Man College – up to 2,000 words with prizes of £200, £150 and £100. Up to 10 highly commended entrants in each category will receive prizes of £25.
The winning entries will be published in a book.
All entries must be accompanied by an entry form and entries themselves must not carry identifying markers, such as the author’s name or school.
They must contain an accurate word count.
The full rules can be viewed at www.gov.im/hallcaine or contact jan.cowan@gov.im