The Ghana Library Authority has launched the 'National Short Story Writing Challenge' to curate more short stories by young people and make it available for its wider audience through the Ghana Library App.

National Short Story Writing Challenge is an open subject story writing contest for children from nine to 18 years.

This forms part of measures to stimulate the minds of young people and to optimize responsible use of time during the stay-at-home efforts of government to fight the spread of Covid-19.

Contestants are not limited to particular subjects and can therefore choose to write about any topic of their interest.

Speaking at the launch, the Executive Director of the Ghana Library Authority stated, “We all know the crisis the whole world is facing as a result of the COVID -19 pandemic.

"Schools, public libraries and other places which will intellectually engage children have all been shut down. Therefore, we are launching this challenge to encourage young writers and to intellectually engage them at home.”

“A lot of Ghanaian children are very imaginative and you will be amazed at how a nine-year-old will write in a very creative way. You may even think it was written by a professional adult writer.

"The interesting part is, winning stories will be published on the Ghana Library App so this basically means that we are encouraging children to write for children”, he added.

The National Short Story Writing Challenge seeks to inspire young writers nationwide to showcase their creative and critical thinking skills.

Selected applicants will be divided into two age groups; Junior Group will comprise applicants from nine to 12 years while the Senior Group will comprise applicants from 13 to 18 years.

The winners of each group and their respective runners up will receive cash prizes. Winners will receive ¢1000, 1st runners- up will receive ¢500 and 2nd runners- up will receive ¢300.

The winners will be ambassadors and also have their stories published on the Ghana Library App.

Registration should be done via www.ghanalibrary.org/shortstorychallenge, fill the application form and click on the “Upload” button to upload your entry.

The entry must be a Word document (MS Word) or Portable Document Format (PDF) file and not more than 1500 words in Arial font.

Closing date for entry is May 10, and all entries must be submitted before 5 pm GMT on the closing date of the competition. Entry is free.