Judges hail brillliant entries as they prepare to announce winners of writing competition

The paper asked children and young people across the region to send in their stories as part of a campaign aims at promoted a love of reading and writing.

Children could write between 500 and 1,000 words with either a complete short story or an opening chapter to a longer piece.

We provided the opening line: “The time had come and there was no turning back...” but the rest was up to the young writers.

The Yorkshire Post’s managing editor, Nicola Furbisher, said: “We have been delighted with both the quantity and quality of the entries we have received.

“The imagination children have shown and the variety of stories we have seen has been brilliant. We have now produced a shortlist of finalists but choosing the overall winners will be very difficult indeed.”

The final judging will take place this month and we will shortly be announcing winners and prizes. The competition has been backed by famous authors including Joanne Harris and Michael Rosen. Best selling author and education expert Gervaise Phinn is among the Inspiring Young Writers judging panel.

The competition is part of The Yorkshire Post’s Turning the Page campaign which was launched as part of a region-wide drive to raise standards.

A summit of education leaders from across the county earlier this year called on everyone to play their part in improving Yorkshire’s schools. The Yorkshire Post decided to answer this with a literacy campaign which examines why standards in the region lag behind the rest of the country, but also promotes a love of reading and writing.