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Jeff Kinney launches diary writing competition
Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney has launched a diary writing competition for children with his publisher Puffin and the National Literacy Trust (NLT).
Children aged between seven and 12 in the UK can win £100 worth of Puffin Books and £500 worth of Puffin Books for their school by writing a diary entry about the most exciting snow day they could imagine. The winner will also receive a copy of the new book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown, and print signed by Kinney.
Jonathan Douglas, director of the NLT, said: “Diaries are a fantastic way to get children excited about writing. They don’t demand incredibly neat handwriting or big words, which are common barriers to children’s writing. Instead, diaries give children the chance to be themselves by using everyday language, creative drawings and humour in their entries. We hope that our diary writing competition will help even more children fall in love with writing.”
Kinney launched the competition at an event in Newcastle with over 600 school children to celebrate the launch of The Meltdown, in which a snow storm shuts down Greg Heffley’s middle school and turns his neighbourhood into a wintry battlefield.
“I loved comic strips as a kid, and comics helped me to become an avid reader,” said Kinney. “I liked the idea of creating a format that might make reading accessible to kids in a similar way to my own experience with comics, so I started writing Greg Heffley's adventures in a diary. I’m thrilled that the diary writing competition will promote writing as well as reading and I hope it'll help inspire kids who may have had fewer opportunities to develop a love for both.”
The competition closes on the end of January and children can enter via the NLT website, where teachers can access resources and activities to encourage their pupils to take part.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown is the 13th Wimpy Kid series, which last week took the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 57,790 copies. In total Kinney has sold 11.7 million books for £65.6m.
