AN Evesham short story competition available to both young and old has opened.

The Evesham Festival of Words is holding a short story competition welcoming both first time and established writers.

For the competition there are categories for eight to 11 year olds, 12 to 16 year olds and adults.

Sue Ablett, the chairman of the festival said: "Many have said that we all have a book inside us, just waiting to be written, but a book can be a daunting prospect.

"The short story competition, with its open theme and manageable work count is a wonderful opportunity to try out your literary skills without needing to retire to a garret for months on end.

"We hope to see lots of interest from local schools and colleges, not to mention the many aspiring writers who are working full time, running homes and raising families."

The winner of each junior category will receive £30 in cash and a trophy and all junior short-listed entries will be included in the hard copy anthology.

The adult category has a top prize of £150.

Junior entries must be no more than 1000 words and for adults the maximum is 2,500.

There is no submission fee for junior entries and each adult entry costs £5.

To submit a story, entrants should email info@eveshamfestivalofwords.org including their name, address, contact number, and date of birth if they are aged under 16 at the closing date.

Entries should be submitted in doc, doc.x, rtf or pdf format.

Entrants can write about anything and the deadline for entries, is Friday March 24.

For more information about the competition visit www.eveshamfestivalofwords.org or email info@eveshamfestivalofwords.org