Delivering subject content through nine life themes
‘A Secret’ is the theme of this year’s Martha Mills Young Writers’ Prize, the judging panel for which includes bestselling author Philip Pullman. Now in its second year, the prize is inspired by the curiosity and imagination of Martha Mills, a keen writer who died in 2021 aged thirteen. We have written in the past that literacy and creativity go hand in hand. Too many children find writing a chore and too few write (or read) for pleasure. That’s why encouraging creative writing is important. Our goal should be to make reading and writing fun, to see literacy as a way of enabling each child to express themselves imaginatively and igniting their creative spark.
The Martha Mills Young Writers’ Prize, now in its second year, is run by the London Review Bookshop and seeks to give young people a chance to explore new themes in their writing and to get their work published. It is open to anyone between the ages of 11 and 14 living in the UK.
The theme for 2024 is ‘A Secret’. Entries must be a piece of prose of 500 words or fewer. The closing date is Friday 19 July.
The three winning writers will each receive £200 as well as a selection of books and a special souvenir. A selection of entries, including the three winners, will be included in a pamphlet, available from the bookshop.
The judges for this year are Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, Gayle Lazda from the London Review Bookshop, and Merope Mills and Paul Laity, Martha’s parents and editors at the Guardian and the London Review of Books respectively.
The judges say that they are “looking for writing that is lively, unusual or otherwise original. It doesn’t have to be perfect or finished – we want to see the work that you’re most proud of or most excited about. Don’t worry if you haven’t written much before or don’t know if you’re a ‘writer’.
“You can take this idea in any direction you like – it could be a story of a secret between friends, or a tale of spies or detectives, or you could write about a secret that has affected your own life, or the life of someone you know.”
Martha loved reading and writing and took inspiration from her favourite authors – Katherine Rundell, Malorie Blackman, Philip Pullman and others. We weren’t able to witness her grow as a reader and writer, but we hope the Martha Mills prize will inspire other young writers.
Merope Mills and Paul Laity, Martha’s parents
Life-Based Learning is an approach to education and development that is all about opening up children’s minds, helping them explore the world in imaginative ways and express themselves creatively.
In our blog Igniting children’s creative spark and promoting literacy we wrote:
Writing isn’t just functional — an essential skill that we need to fill out forms and text our friends. Nor do we just need to know the ‘rules’ of writing so that we can communicate accurately with others without being misunderstood. Good writing is a thing of beauty, capable of engaging and inspiring both reader and writer. It is empowering, allowing us to articulate ideas, express emotions or create whole worlds of the imagination.
Igniting children’s creative spark and promoting literacy
We have also written about the educational value of poetry:
It is perfect for children as a vehicle for creativity and for learning to work with language. They can have fun playing about with words and phrases, experimenting with rhymes and learning the basics of rhythm and metre.
National Poetry Day 2023
The image at the head of this article is from the London Review Bookshop website.
