Young writers who entered the WrittenByMe short story competition were among the first to see their names in print at a book launch to celebrate their achievements.

Hosted at Mansfield Library the Mansfield Learning Partnership event brought together category winners, sponsors and judges to celebrate the achievement of the youngsters.

Category winners Jacob Evans and Beth Shaw answered questions about why they write and how they get their inspiration, and read extracts from their stories.

Beth said: “I’ve never shared my writing with anyone other than my mum. It was scary but great to get positive feedback.”

Jacob Evans, who also won his category last year, said: “I enjoy writing for fun, and this has been a great experience. I’ll definitely keep writing.”

The contest, open to students from Mansfield schools and Vision West Nottinghamshire College, saw young writers create a short fiction-based story of 500 words or less.

The competition was created in partnership with Mansfield 2020, after board member Kath Jephson put the idea forward.

She said: “The stories have been fantastic and I’ve been impressed. Hopefully this is something we can grow going forward and, working with the learning partnership, we can find new ways to encourage local creative talent.”

Berni Dickinson, director of the learning partnership, said: “These youngsters are inspiring. It’s great to see young people excited about writing. Our winners have all been given the opportunity to work with the University of Nottingham to build their skills even further, so it’s great we can help nurture local creative talent.

“Events like these raise the aspirations of young people. We’re looking forward to holding the WrittenByMe competition again next year.’

The stories have been printed in a book by local print company Linney Group. It contains all of the entries.

To order a copy, contact [email protected]
The learning partnership has requested a donation of £1 per book.