ABOUT MANCHESTER: Oliver selected as Reading Judge for 2023 Portico Sadie Massey Awards

The Portico Sadie Massey Awards – UK’s leading competition for young literary talent is back for its 8th year.

Manchester’s Portico Library invites young people aged 7-18 to enter the 2023 Portico Sadie Massey Awards (PSM Awards), a national short story and 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, poetry, etc).

Judging the competition is author Clare Povey (The Unexpected Tales of Bastien Bonlivre) and previous Portico Young People’s Prize winner and author Hallie Fletcher (Moth). Carnegie and and Greenway nominated poet & author Dom Conlan and award-winning Arts Practitioner and Children’s Author / Performer Oliver Sykes (Stories Of Care, Alfie’s First Fight) are this year’s judges for the reading competiton. 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.

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Click here to watch Oliver read from his book, Alfie’s First Fight!