Literary competition launches for amateur writers in Bassetlaw

Entries are now open for the annual North Notts Writing Competition competition run by The North Notts Lit Fest and funded by Bassetlaw District Council and North Notts BID.

There are four categories, which are short story, poetry, children's short story and children's poetry with up to £300 in cash up for grabs for the winners.

The adult categories are open to residents aged 15 and over and the children’s categories children aged six to 14.

Liz Carney-Marsh, North Notts literary ambassador and North Notts Lit Fest festival director, who won the competition three years ago, said: “The theme is 'In Great Company'. All entries must be based around the theme and have some sort of link to North Notts. All genres are welcome and creativity and originality celebrated!

"Our aim this year is looking at and tracking loneliness in the community after lockdown.

"The main thing is remembering to enjoy each other's company and encouraging people to be in each other's company.

"One thing we intend to launch is a community watch hub.

"Over the last year and half the digital world has grown but there are some people in the community due to digital poverty or being from a different generation that can’t access a lot of what we are providing online.

"So we are hoping to work with The Time Machine in Retford and The Aurora Centre in Worksop offering people places to come and have a cuppa and access our digital talks and workshops without any worries surrounding technical issues.”

Liz is currently waiting to find out if funding has been approved for The North Notts Lit Fest from the Arts Council.

The team are planning to host a festival that runs from August to March with a dedicated week of festival events taking place from September 12 to 19.

To find out more about entering the writing competition and for a full list of entry information and deadline details visit www.nnlf.org.uk.

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