Budding bloggers and journalists invited to enter Commons competition

By Jonathan Walker on Nov 3, 11 02:53 PM in Politics

Young people have been invited to enter a prestigious writing competition backed by the Birmingham Post & Mail, giving them a chance to visit Parliament and meet top politicians and journalists.

The contest is organised by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, which includes journalists from leading regional and national newspapers as well as broadcasters and political bloggers.

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Entries will be judged by journalists whose day to day job it is to follow the twists and turns of Parliamentary life (including me).

Regional finalists in this round of judging will be invited to Parliament where they will spend a day to remember meeting journalists and politicians and touring the Palace of Westminster.

Their entries will additionally be judged by a panel made up of MPs and Peers who will select the overall winners in each of two age groups.

The challenge for students in years 10 to 11 is to imagine they are standing for election as mayor of their town or city and to write a personal campaign statement explaining why the electorate should choose you.

Students in years 12 or 13 are asked to imagine they are a political blogger - someone who posts analysis or provocative thoughts about politics on the web - and to write up to four blog posts on one of the top political stories of the day.

For full details of the challenges and information about how to enter, see the official web site at http://www.writenow.org.uk. But be quick , as the deadline for entries is Friday 11th November.

Press Gallery chair Carolyn Quinn, a BBC RAdio 4 presenter, said: "The Press Gallery Writing Competition is your chance to get involved and show us what the potential politicians or political journalists of the future have to offer."