Winning essayist will get a trip to ireland

The 2008-9 theme for the 5th Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand is "Once Upon a Time ... ". The contest is open to Thai students aged 14-18. Deadline for submission is January 15, with the winners to be announced on February 15.

The contest is sponsored by international productivity consultant IMPAC, the Embassy of Ireland, Public Care Services (Thailand) and Kerry Group. Co-organisers are The Nation, Nation Junior, Phuket Gazette and CityLife Chiangmai.

"I am delighted to be associated with the forthcoming competition, which is growing from strength to strength," said Irish ambassador Eugene Hutchinson. "It is a wonderful opportunity for young Thai students to develop their writing skills in English. We in Ireland, as you do in Thailand, recognise the value of fluency in English in this globalised and highly competitive world. I would encourage even more Thai students to take part in this year's competition and perhaps win a wonderful trip to Dublin. Remember: if you're not in it, you can't win it."

Pana Janviroj, COO of The Nation, said: "We hope to beat the record number of entries last year of almost 1,000. The new theme is in line with our objective to promote creative English writing." The judges are ambassador Hutchinson; Sirikorn Maneerin, former director of TK Park and former deputy education minister; Assoc Prof Prathoomporn Vajrasthira, SeaWrite judge and international-relations lecturer at Chulalongkorn University; Assistant Prof Suchada Nimmannit, former president of Thailand Tesol; and Pana.

The competition will be held in all four regions of the country. Each regional winner will receive a cash prize of Bt10,000, and two runners-up will get Bt5,000 each.

The overall national winner will receive a free trip with one accompanying parent to attend the senior international IMPAC Awards in Dublin in June, where the student will take part in the reading with the winning author.

Past Thai junior winners have been from schools in Bangkok and Phuket with runners-up from Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.

In recognition of the quality of their essays and inspiration, the Crown Property Bureau last year published the winning essays with Thai translation in magazine format and distributed it to 35,000 schools nationwide.

Competitiors from Bangkok, the Central region and the Northeast can send entries to The Nation, those from the North to CityLife Chiangmai and those from the South to Phuket Gazette.

For more details or queries, schools and students should contact Patcharee Lueng-uthai on (02) 338 3443 or e-mail patcharee@nationgroup.com.