2 All pieces should be autobiographical, and should deal with a significant moment in the writer’s life, a remembered person or place.

3 Pieces may be in any prose genre, for example narrative, diary or letter, but should be in the first person.

4 Pieces should not be less than 300 words and not more than 600 words long.

5 Schools may send in any number of pieces of writing, but no more than one piece should be submitted from any one writer.

6 Teachers submitting writing must ensure that each piece is the writer’s own work.

7 All entries must be submitted through a school.

8 Two copies of each piece of writing, word processed, should be supplied, each clearly marked with the name and address of the writer’s school and the writer’s age on August 31, 2003.

9 All pieces should arrive at the NATE office by January 31, 2004 (address on Registration form).

10 Registration does not commit a school to sending the number of pieces entered on the registration form, or to sending any pieces at all. A figure for the likely number of pieces is requested purely to aid the organisers in making arrangements for the judging.

11 The Times Educational Supplement shall have first publication rights in all pieces of work submitted.

12 Winners will be informed in May 2004 and the results of the competition will be published in The Times Educational Supplement.