Charity Little Troopers has launched a national story writing competition for military children on the theme of ‘my military life’.
Children aged eight to 14 are being asked to write a story that relates to their experiences of being a military child. Entries will be judged by a panel including children’s authors, Donna David and Tom Palmer.
The winning story will then be illustrated and published as an ebook on the Little Troopers Treasures free story-recording app, so that other military children can read and share it.
Entries should be between 200 and 500 words and can be written in prose or rhyme and should be submitted by 14 October.
The competition is part of a month-long celebration called ‘September Stories’ and children can get some handy hints from Donna David, who will be running a creative writing workshop on 16 September.
The charity is also encouraging children to take part in a sponsored read-a-thon challenge. Children can choose from a list of fun challenges including reading every day for an hour, reading for four hours straight, or even challenging themselves to build a book tower and read as many books as they are tall!
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said: “Research shows that reading has a huge positive impact on children’s wellbeing and we know that sharing stories is particularly important to military families.
“We hope that lots of military children take part and enjoy getting involved. We’re particularly excited about the story competition. It’s going to be so special for one of the books on the Little Troopers Treasures app to be written by a real little trooper and we can’t wait to read the entries!”
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