HCM CITY  (VNS)— Young professional and amateur writers are invited to participate in a writing contest organised by three prestigious national organisations.

The National Writing Competition 2012 for Young Writers, organised by the HCM City Writers' Association in co-operation with Tre (Youth) Publishing House and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, will award prizes in the categories of fiction and short stories.

The contest's theme focuses on the lives of young people, their challenges and dreams in a changing world.

Organisers hope the competition, which has been held every two years since 2000, will give the writers under the age of 40 a chance to develop their careers as well as bring writers and publishers together to introduce new, quality books for readers.

Reputed authors including Nguyen Dong Thuc and Doan Thach Bien will be part of the jury.

All the high-quality contributions will be printed and distributed by the Tre Publishing House.

The participants must submit no fewer than six short stories or a novel of no more than 200 pages on A4 paper.

They should send their works by post to the contest's organising board, at 161B Ly Chinh Thang Street, District 3, HCM City.

Prize winners will be announced next year.

Previous competitions have produced winners who have gone on to become popular among young readers, like Nguyen Ngoc Thuan, Nguyen Huong, Hong Hanh and Nguyen Ngoc Tu.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu, in particular, has succeeded in impressing both young and older readers by focusing on rural life, featuring the simple lifestyle of farmers in her native land, the southern province of Ca Mau.

Her first book, Canh Dong Bat Tan (Endless Fields), proved to be a bestseller as soon as it hit the shelves in HCM City bookshops in 2005.

Nearly 2,000 copies were sold in the first two days of its release.

The book was also honoured with the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2008. The award is given annually by the Thai Royal Family to encourage and honour poets and writers in the ASEAN region. — VNS