Expert eyes on your writing

IT'S TIME to put pen to paper once more. Amnesty International and Transition Times are launching a new competition where we invite TY students to write their own responses to one of the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which is celebrating its 60th birthday this year.

In a few days' time, your school will be sent a number of copies of an Irish Timessupplement. In it you'll find articles and short stories from the best of Ireland's literary and film talents. Over the past year, these writers have contributed a piece of work to The Irish Times, in which they interpret one of the UDHR articles and, in their own way, explain what it means to them. Contributors include giants of the arts such as Anne Enright, Neil Jordan, Irvine Welsh, Maeve Binchy and Seamus Heaney, to name but a few.

Now it's up to you to choose one of the UDHR articles yourself and come up with 500 words that reflect its meaning. The winner will receive flights and accommodation to visit the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London. Runners-up will be in with a chance to win internships in Amnesty and work experience placements in The Irish Times.

So reading through the articles written by the main contributors should help to get you started. If these guys can't get your creative juices flowing, nothing will.

"Try to illustrate the UDHR article you choose rather than describing it," advises Sean Love of Amnesty, creator of the UDHR series. "We're not looking for definitions, rather stories or essays which put the articles in context." In other words, try to show how the articles have been used or indeed abused through experiences you may have had personally or someone you know has had.

Or you could choose to write a piece of fiction based around one of the articles.

Your judges for the competition will be none other than Paul Howard (also known as Ross O'Carroll-Kelly), Roddy Doyle, John Boyne and Claire Kilroy. Judges will be looking for interesting interpretations of the articles. Make it stand out.

"The thing we'll be looking for is originality of thinking," stresses Paul Howard. "The best advice for fiction and for journalism is to remember that the story is the crucial thing. People shouldn't ever lose sight of that. Themes are important but most important is the story. It has to be interesting. It has to grab people's attention.

"You want somebody to read it. So remember your audience. Be conscious of that when you sit down to write it. You want people to enjoy it, be moved by it and be inspired by it."

Support for teachers and students is available from Amnesty Education section.

"Amnesty Ireland offers a free UDHR resource pack for teachers and their students," says Sean Love. "The resource contains 12 classes, including a CD with detailed teachers' notes and a full set of supporting materials. The pack also contains a poster containing the 30 articles of the UDHR for display. Further information is available from Ruth Gallagher, Human Rights Education Officer, Amnesty International (Ireland) at hre@amnesty.ie, 01-8638300, www.amnesty.ie."

The deadline for finished responses is Friday, January 23rd, 2008.

The prizes

First prize is two days at Amnesty's International Secretariat in London, the global headquarters of Amnesty's human rights research, campaigning and education. You will receive an introduction to the wide range of the organisation's global operations. Flights and accommodation are included and the timing of the visit will be arranged to best suit the successful student.

Runners-up prizes include two internships at Amnesty Ireland's Education and Communications Department, and two work experience placements with The Irish Timesin late February 2009.

Learn from the best

If you want some advice on how to go about writing the stories, four evenings have been arranged in Trinity College Dublin later this week, where all the UDHR writers will be reading their stories and taking questions and answers. Taking place in Edmund Burke Theatre, TCD on December 7th-10th between 7-9pm. Admission is free but booking is essential. Tickets are available from all Ticketmaster outlets or online at www.ticket master.ie.

The writers participating are:

Sunday, December 7th: Eugene McCabe, Lia Mills, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, Kevin Barry, Colum McCann, Dermot Healy, Roddy Doyle.

Monday, December 8th: Colm Tóibín, Ann Marie Hourihane, Eoin Colfer, Glenn Patterson, John Connolly, Anne Enright

Tuesday, December 9th: Joe O'Connor, John Boyne, Claire Kilroy, Carlo Gébler, Gerard Stembridge, Dermot Bolger, Mark O'Halloran.

Wednesday, December 10th: Frank McCourt, Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, Lara Marlowe, Gary Mitchell, Neil Jordan, Jennifer Johnston, Seamus Heaney.