A new addition in 2012 to the Herald's Young Writer family of writing competitions, Youngest Writer: WriteOn is for NSW students in Years 1–6 and is designed to encourage students to develop their writing skills.

Using the selected photograph for inspiration, students are invited to enter a short written work of up to 500 words. Entries should be a description, exposition, narrative or recount.

A panel of teachers will select the winning entries. The winning entries will be published by the Board of Studies NSW and The Sydney Morning Herald. One winning entry will also be selected by the Herald's editor for publication in The Sydney Morning Herald in October 2012. Gold award students will be presented with a subscription to The Sydney Morning Herald Digital Edition, a framed certificate, $100 book pack, $50 Dymocks gift voucher, $50 stationery pack and the opportunity to take part in a Sydney Morning Herald writing workshop. In addition, the overall winner's school will also receive a book pack for the school library.

For more information about Youngest Writer: WriteOn, including competition guidelines and selected photograph visit http://smhyoungestwriter.bos.nsw.edu.au/

For more information about The Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer (Years 10 to 12) and Younger Writer (Years 7 to 9) writing competitions, visit http://youngwriter.smh.com.au/

(Photograph by Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald)