Manchester’s Portico Library invites young people aged 7 – 18 to enter the 2023 Portico Sadie Massey Awards (PSM Awards), a national short story & book review competition to encourage a love of reading and writing in young people. Now in its 8th year, the PSM Awards includes a writing competition that asks writers to submit a short story set in the North of England with the northern setting taking a prominent place, and a reading competition that invites readers to submit a review of any book of their choice (e.g., fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels or poetry). The competitions are open, free to enter, and close at midnight on Friday 24 March 2023.
Judging the writing competition is author Clare Povey (The Unexpected Tale of Bastien Bonlivre) and previous Portico Young People’s Prize winner and author Hallie Fletcher (Moth). Carnegie and Greenaway nominated poet & author Dom Conlon and award-winning Arts Practitioner and Children’s Writer/Performer Oliver Sykes (Stories of Care, Alfie’s First Fight) are this year’s judges for the reading competition. Both competitions are free to enter for students in Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 (7 – 18 years) through schools or sent directly to the Portico Library.
To support students wanting to participate, the PSM Awards team delivers workshops across Greater Manchester. There are also resources available on the Portico’s website to further support young people on their writing journeys.
Each entrant will receive a Portico Library gift pack, including a bookmark and notebook unique to the library. For both competitions, a winner from each Key Stage will receive an invitation to adopt a Portico Library book for restoration, as well as books and gift bundles; Key Stage 5 winners will receive mentorships with the Manchester Writing Squad. And all schools that enter receive a book for their school library.
The Portico Sadie Massey Awards ceremony will be held at The Portico Library on Thursday 15 June 2023 where all the winners will be celebrated in the company of their guests, the judges, Portico Library staff, and more. Author and PSM Awards Project Coordinator Ruth Estevez said this about the awards,
“The Awards are now in their 8th year and have gone from 135 entries to 2,642 with 53 schools taking part in 2022, from the south coast of England to Scotland; we even have an enquiry from Madrid this year! We aim to continue Sadie Massey’s desire to encourage a life-long love of the written word in all young people and we do this through creative writing workshops, the competitions, a festival plus youtube and website videos from distinguished writers associated with the awards.
We are very appreciative of the work done by teachers and librarians, and enjoy creating working relationships with everyone involved in reading and writing. Past winners have gone on to be published writers, performers and judges, and we love seeing the enthusiasm of all who enter the awards and the confidence that brings. We are particularly proud of how the PSM Awards bring young people to the Portico Library and find that it is a welcoming, creative and inspiring place for all.”
The Portico Library’s PSMA team is also in the third year of their creative Art of the Book Award competition open to Pupil Referral Units and Schools with Special Educational Needs in Greater Manchester. Alanna Cryer, Phase Leader of Inscape House School in Manchester has said of this strand of the PSM Awards work:
“There aren’t many competitions that are inclusive and accessible for all learners, and so we really appreciate it!”
