THE Gazette has joined forces with four firms to give competition entrants the chance to win a digital camera.

The history-writing competition is open to anyone who was aged 11 to 18 on September 1 this year.

It is the fourth time Sally Anderson-Wai of Write Wai PR & Copywriting Services’ has run the annual competition, supported by the Gazette and jointly run with Andrew Summers, of Essex Hundred Publications.

To enter, youngsters should select a Colchester history topic between 300 and 400 words.

Entries can be fact or fiction and should be sent to sally@writewai.com by December 31.

The overall winner will be given a digital camera and the winner's school will receive £100 worth of books.

Second prize is an annual pass for Colchester Castle for two people while third place is a £50 book token to be used at Wivenhoe Bookshop.

The Gazette will also publish the top three stories and give the winners a tour of the newsroom, including the chance to sit in on the daily editorial conference.

Sally, of Write Wai, said: “We’re thrilled that this year’s competition is bigger and better than ever before.

"We run this competition each year to encourage young people to improve their writing skills at a time when standards of English seem to be dropping due to the digital era we live in."

Tim Young, deputy leader of Colchester Council, added: “It’s wonderful to be supporting this great competition to encourage young people in their writing, which will also help to promote this wonderful town."

For full details and the competition rules, go to : writewai.com/news-blog.