As with food, writing is something which can be enjoyed with others, sharing stories and coming up with ideas together. It can connect communities and help us to discover new things about people, places, and the world around us.
Why write?
In the North West, only 1 in 3 (29.9%) children aged 8-18 say they enjoy writing in their free time. When children and young people enjoy writing and write daily in their free time, their writing skills, critical thinking skills, confidence, creativity and wellbeing benefit.
Children and young people who wrote at least once a month in their spare time said the process of writing helps them to be creative (59.1%), express their ideas and imagination (52.8%), express their thoughts and feelings (47.7%), relax (40.4%) feel happy (33.1%) and can help them get a better job when they grow up (36.2%).
Here in Blackpool, there is a real need to inspire children to write for themselves, as 28% of children left primary school in 2023 without the skills they need to learn and thrive, rising to 36% of disadvantaged children.
What can we do?
We'd like to invite everyone in Blackpool to submit a piece of writing - whether it's a short story, a poem, or even a recipe which unlocks your favourite memories - to be considered for inclusion for our upcoming anthology: A Blackpool Banquet. The competition is open to people of all ages, but we're particularly interested to hear from Blackpool voices aged 4-11.
Over the next few months, we'll be sharing writing prompts and activities over on our Facebook page, to help Blackpool's young writers to get started, and for families to try together at home.
A Blackpool Banquet has been developed in partnership with Blackpool Council Catering Services, who want to support children's education through food, and agree that children need strong literacy skills to grow, learn, and thrive.
How to enter
You can either hand in your entry to one of our Literacy Champions at a local event, drop it off at your local library, or email us blackpool@literacytrust.org.uk. Please submit your entry before Monday 2 June 2024.