Fletcher launches Blue Peter writing competition

Singer and children’s author Tom Fletcher has teamed up with Blue Peter to launch a new writing competition for children. 

The Amazing Authors competition, run in partnership with The Reading Agency and BBC Arts, opens for entries next Friday (27th January) and will ask young viewers to pen a short story or poem. The winning story will be brought to life as a book and read as a CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Burgeoning young authors will need to come up with a brilliant main character—human, animal or something imaginary—who gets caught up in an amazing adventure.

Their work will then be turned into a book and an animation by Aardman, thanks to funding support from the Arts Council’s National Lottery Project Grants. It will be read by Fletcher on Blue Peter and made available as a podcast on BBC Sounds.

The winner will also get to go behind the scenes at HarperCollins and Aardman to see how characters are illustrated and books are published before receiving a printed version of their story. They will also receive a framed picture from the animation and a Blue Peter competition winner’s Orange Badge.

Fletcher said: “I absolutely love sharing stories and books with my own children and seeing their eyes light up as they are transported into another world so it’s brilliant to be part of the Blue Peter Amazing Authors competition. I’m still enthralled by children’s books, even as an adult, so it will be a real privilege to see what ingenious ideas and characters the kids themselves come up with."

The editor of Blue Peter, Ellen Evans, explained that the show wanted to work with a leading children’s author as a way of firing up children’s imaginations and encouraging them to visit their local library and to get excited about books and writing stories. 

Evans said: "I’m looking forward to reading all the stories submitted from our viewers and I have no doubt there are lots of aspiring young writers out there with a huge amount of talent."

Karen Napier, c.e.o., The Reading Agency, added: "We are really excited to be working with BBC Arts on this fantastic competition with Blue Peter. By engaging children across the country in writing for pleasure, we hope that we’ll see the children building their confidence and their broader reading habits."

Details of how to enter will be on the Blue Peter website. The competition closes at 5pm on 8th March.