AN awards ceremony tomorrow evening (Friday) will celebrate the wealth of literary talent possessed by Malvern’s younger generation.

Malvern Young Writer of the Year, now in its 16th year, will recognise the talents of young people in prose, poetry and, for the first time, script writing.

The overall winner will be announced tonight at St Edmund’s Hall, Malvern College, with five writers vying for the prestigious accolade.

Another dozen have received runner up prizes and commendations in the awards, which are run by Malvern Writers’ Circle.

First prize in this year’s Prose category was 16-year-old Martha Merrell with The Loner, about a young boy with schizophrenia.

Martha, a Chase school pupil, said: “It’s a short story that we originally did as part of GCSE coursework but my teacher Mrs Dukes wanted to enter it.

“It’s called The Loner and I wanted it to be quite dark and to stick in people’s heads.”

Judging this year has been undertaken by poet Dr David Arnold, from Worcester University, and novelist and former winner Dr Graham Gardner.

All winners will receive £50 and the overall winner will receive £100 in total.

The event is being sponsored this year by Malvern Rotary Club, Malvern Lions Club, television playwright Tony Grounds and Martel Scientific Software.

Administrator of the awards Fran Martel said: “We think it’s a really good competition because it’s free to enter and all the students get feedback which hopefully gives them some points on what works and what doesn’t work.”

Mrs Martel said that Malvern Writers’ Circle itself had seen an increase in younger members recently.