Why writing competition judges are like Santa

Well done to each of the over 800 people who entered the 2009 Concern Creative Writing Competition.

We were delighted to receive entries from all around the world, including Japan, India, Nigeria, the USA, UK and Ireland.

Checking them twice

Each of the 800 entries were read by two different judges. This meant that we felt a bit like Santa in the run up to Christmas. Like Santa, we also found it a hugely enjoyable task.

All of our first and second round judges spoke of how much they learned from the many different entries. Some were very funny, many were sad. Others gave very practical advice, or expressed anger about why things are the way they are.

To all of you who took the time to enter, may we express our gratitude and thanks.

Expert judges

We have now passed on the top entries from each of the three categories to our final panel of expert judges (from the world of print media, academia and development). They are currently making up their minds and will let us know very shortly.

We’ll be announcing the winners on Wednesday 27 May, right here on the website.