Who has a ghostly tale to tell this Christmas? Here’s your chance to win

HAYLING ISLAND BOOKSHOP AGAIN SHOWS SUPPORT FOR BUDDING WRITERS WITH NEWS COMPETITION

CAN you write a gripping ghost story?

Today we’re launching The News’s popular Christmas writing competition, when we ask you to think scary and spooky as you pen your own festive tale.

Just like Portsmouth’s literary legend Charles Dickens, who wrote the all-time classic A Christmas Carol, we want you to come up with stories that have a Christmas flavour.

They can be set in times gone by or the modern world. The characters, content and how the storyline develops are entirely up to you.

There are two age categories – one for authors aged 15 and under and one for those aged 16 and over.

We’ll be publishing the entries of the winners and runners-up in each category in The News in the run-up to Christmas.

There are also prizes to be won – as well as the thrill of seeing their stories in print and recorded for The

News website at portsmouth.co.uk .

The Hayling Island Bookshop are once again providing prizes for the winners of the competition £50 to spend in-store.

They are one of the smallest bookshops in the UK but manage to run or support events with authors for around 20,000 people each year.

Events manager Colin Telford said: “It’s great that The News is once again running this competition to encourage writers young and old to submit a story.

“Portsmouth is the birthplace of one of the most famous ghost story writers of all time. So let’s see if there’s another Christmas Carol out there!” Mark Waldron, editor of The News, said: “It’s that time of year again when we ask you to come up with spooky tales that send a shiver down the spine.

“We always look forward to reading your festive stories and seeing how creative you can be. “And don’t think you need to be an experienced writer to be in with a chance of winning. Some of the best entries we’ve had in previous years have been from people who had never had anything published before.”

Come up with spooky tales that sendashiver down the spine