By Community Correspondent Katie Kemp

Young Writers across Merton prepare themselves, pen in hand, for the upcoming excitement as a world of creative exhilaration opens its doors once again to the captivating works of young talent. With such a promise, the year ahead seems to assure a deluge of ingenuity and inspiration as Merton’s budding writers compete amongst themselves, and the nation, for recognition in their field.

In Merton, the Wimbledon Book Festival is in preparation for another sucessful year; created in order to inspire young minds to propel themselves forward in the arts. The 2010 Competition for Primary and Secondary schools presents us with a stimulating and engaging theme of time travel, which encourages young writers to open their minds to endless interpretations.

In celebration of World Book Day and in order to officially launch the Young Writers’ Competition for junior schools, Wimbledon Bookfest will introduce the author Philip Ardagh (who wrote the award winning 'Just Plain Stinky') to our young thinkers on Tuesday 2nd March. After this inaugural event, the competition remains open until the closing date on Friday 9th July.

Another Competition, which began on Monday 22nd February, is the Wicked Young Writers’ Award, which offers all young writers throughout Britain, from the age of 5-25, the opportunity to display their talent. The Award has been set up in 2010 by the former children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo in order to “recognise excellence in writing, encourage creativity and help develop writing talent in young people”.

There will be four categories for children: 5-7 years, 8-10 years, 11-13 years and 14-16 years. Children in these categories are given the opportunity to write a story about anything of interest, and can be in the form of prose or poetry. The other category, which includes 17-25 year olds, involves a separate Award – The Gregory Maguire Award – inspired by the author of Wicked. This Award involves the re-interpretation of a well-known story with careful originality. From each category, there will be 20 winning entries, and then an overall winner of each. The closing date for entries is on Saturday 31st July.

To find out more visit the website: http://www.wickedyoungwriters.com/

For those interested in attending the event with Wimbledon Bookfest on 2nd March and have children in years 2, 3 or 4, you can book places by e-mailing Sam Loggie at info@wimbledonbookfest.org or by calling the Bookfest Office on 020 8545 6788