The National Literacy Trust has joined forces with Wicked Active Learning for Wicked Writers: Be the Change, a writing competition devised by the National Literacy Trust and Wicked Active Learning, the cultural and social education programme run by celebrated stage musical Wicked.
Now in its third year, the annual writing competition will focus on the theme of local change, inviting writers aged nine to 14 to use their voices to advocate for a change they want to see in their community. Winners will receive class tickets to see the acclaimed stage musical Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre.
Tim Judge, National Literacy Trust’s head of schools programmes, said: `’Last year an incredible 1,600 young people entered the competition, putting their hopes and fears for the environment on paper. Teachers told us that giving young people the opportunity to write about what matters to them improved their writing enjoyment, confidence and their motivation. Be the Change is all about listening to young people's voices and showing them that writing can be an empowering experience that makes a difference in their world; we can't wait to learn from this year's young activists about the local changes they want to see in their communities.’
This year’s theme is inspired by one of the songs from Wicked, ‘For Good’, and entrants are invited to write persuasively about any kind of positive change they would like to see in their community. Teachers can register their interest and sign-up to receive updates here. One winner and one runner-up will be selected in two age categories (Years 5-6 and Years 7-9), and all 16 shortlisted pupils will see their work published in an anthology and receive a bundle of books for their school.
The competition launch follows the release of National Literacy Trust research revealing that children and young people’s enjoyment of writing and daily writing habits is at an all-time low, meaning that 7 in 10 children are missing out on the associated benefits to their confidence, creativity and wellbeing and their writing and critical thinking skills. However, twice as many children and young people who had taken part in writing competitions reported that they enjoyed writing (43.7 per cent vs 21.7 per cent) and wrote daily (16.2 per cent vs 8.3 per cent) in their free time compared with those who didn’t enter a competition.