This year's International Community Fair in The Hague sees the launch of the Netherlands' first Young Writers Competition - a chance for budding writers, journalists, poets and storytellers to showcase their talents to the world.

The competition – an initiative of DutchNews.nl, the International Herald Tribune and The XPat Journal – is aimed at the 20,000 children attending international schools in the Netherlands and bilingual streams in Dutch state schools. But anyone aged 6 to 18 can enter.

The theme of this year’s competition is 'Friendship'. We are inviting children to come up with a poem, short story, play, interview, feature or opinion article in which friendship takes centre stage.

'One of the hardest things for children of international families who find themselves moving from country to country is leaving their friends behind,' says Robin Pascoe, editor of DutchNews.nl and one of the judges. 'But a nomadic lifestyle has many benefits as well. Not only are kids exposed to a variety of cultures at a young age, they also end up with friends all over the world.'

The competition will run until the end of December 2009 and the prize-winners will be announced in early 2010.

All the entries to the competition will become part of the Expat Archive Centre in The Hague which collects and preserves writing and other artefacts documenting the global social history of expat life. The winners will also be published on the competition website and in The Xpat Journal. The prize list is still being finalised.

The experiences of young expats deserve to be ‘preserved, shared and written down', says Jo Parfitt, author and creative writing mentor who is another of the competition’s judges. 'This competition is just the kind of thing young people need to take that first step towards expressing themselves. The judges and prizes will give them something to work towards, a goal. And I for one can’t wait to see what they come up with.’

The judging panel also includes writer Russell Shorto, director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam.

Schools, parents and children interested in entering the competition (as well as companies which may like to sponsor the event) can find out more details via the website: www.youngwriterscompetition.nl.

For further media information please contact Robin Pascoe on 06 452 41 999

If you wish to comment or express an opinion about this article please e-mail the editor@TheHagueOnLine.com