The big break into schools publishing could be yours if you follow advice from publisher Jim Green in the 2006 Children’s Writers’ Artists’

Yearbook. The head of Collins Educational has contributed a new section on writing for classroom resources, with tips on how to turn your expertise into a successful pitch. You can read an edited version at www.tes.co.uk2119430. The yearbook offers contacts and advice for writers and illustrators looking for opportunities in children’s books, theatre and broadcasting.

To get you started, the handbook launches a short story competition on the theme of “secrets” for children aged nine to 12, with publication in The TES as part of the prize. There’s also pound;500 cash or AC Black books worth Pounds 1,000 for the winner. Full details at www.acblack. comstory competition.

Meanwhile we have five copies of the new yearbook for Friday readers. To enter our draw, email friday@tes.co.uk or send a postcard to the address on page 2 by September 23. Mark your message or postcard Yearbook Offer.

Who wants to run the Kids’ Lit Quiz in Northern Ireland this winter? There are schools keen to take part in the third annual TES-sponsored event for readers in Years 7 and 8, but so far no one to organise Northern Ireland’s regional heat in late November (Scotland and Wales have two heats each this year). The final is in Newcastle on December 5, with the winning school invited to compete in New Zealand, where the quiz originates, next June.

Contact Eileen Armstrong on earmstrong@cchsonline.co.uk if you can help.

For more information about the quiz and other regions’ contact details, go to www.kidslitquiz.com.

Primary schools have until September 30 to nominate a class as Nestle Smarties Young Judges, who will select winning children’s books in three age groups from shortlists compiled by an adult panel. Download the entry form from www.booktrusted.com, which gives details of class projects to be submitted with your entry. The topics are open to wide interpretation (“Design an invention”, “Describe a view from a window”). The top 150 schools will be sent three sets of the shortlisted books for their age group; the three classes who submit the best work on these by November 23 get to announce the winners at the British Library in mid-December.