Right Words: a competition for young writers

I’ve always been interested in writing. Being a writer, that’s not surprising – but I don’t mean that I’m interested in writing just for its own sake, but for the ways in which it can be useful beyond the merely enjoyable (and perhaps self-indulgent). The way in which encouraging people to write about a subject is to encourage them to pick it apart and think about it, process it, form views about it, reconstruct it in a way that makes sense to them and their world. Young people, especially.

Which is why for some years, I’ve been talking to friends at Human Rights Watch about setting up a writing competition for young people. What better way to get teenagers to wrestle with an important issue, we thought, than by inviting them to write about it? To do their research, to read stories about the experience of people of their age living in different circumstances somewhere in the world, and then to use their imagination, their empathy, their analytical and persuasive skills, their command of the written word, to present the issue as powerfully and originally as they can.

In January 2008, we ran a pilot for the competition, inviting students aged 14-16 to write on the challenging subject of ‘Darfur’. Just over 100 students from around England sent us entries – not a huge number, but what we were struck by was the quality of the submissions. Imaginative, bold pieces of writing, and writing that showed not just empathy with the subject but a really brave and sophisticated engagement its complexities. To write about it, they had first to make themselves understand it, and to understand not only the facts but also the personal, human experiences of those whose cause they were championing.

We published the best of last year’s entries in a small anthology, and have just launched the 2009 competition, on a far more ambitious scale. The chosen subject this year is ‘child soldiers’.

Between now and mid-December, teenagers in England, Scotland and Wales are invited to grapple with this subject and then write. The best work, as chosen by our distinguished panel of judges, will again be published in a new anthology in the spring.

The writing, for me, is evidence of an attempt to understand; the simple fact that teenagers across the country will be energetically taking up this challenge we’re setting them, is thrilling.

The call for entries has just gone out, so now we wait…

For more information about the competition, visit Right Words.

About Daniel Hahn: In 2009 his books included short biographies of poets Shelley and Coleridge, the translation of 'Rainy Season' by Angolan novelist Jose Eduardo Agualusa, and a new edition of The Ultimate First Book Guide, a reading guide for children.