Write around the world

Schoolchildren aged eight to 18 years are being invited to enter the Commonwealth Essay Competition 2009. The international writing contest, currently in its 125th year, aims to encourage young people to put pen to paper in a creative way and express their opinions on local and worldwide issues as part of this global educational project.

Following 2008’s record-breaking number of entries - 6,700 - the organisers of the competition hope that next year will be bigger and better than ever.

Primary children can enter in the Class D section (Under 12s) and choose from a number of writing tasks, including ‘You have decided to stand for leader of your community…’ ‘The most exciting day of my life’, and ‘The Beautiful Game: Why does football inspire such a passion around the world?’

Cash prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place and there are special prizes up for grabs in addition.

Deadline for entries is 1 March 2009.

Visit www.rcsint.org/essay/ for more information.