A WRITING competition is being organised at Bishop Auckland Town Hall to encourage budding authors.

The contest, called Practice to Deceive: The Sentinel, offers prizes of £500, £200 and £50 in book tokens.

It is sponsored by Durham County Council's arts, libraries and museums department.

Judges include novelists Wendy Robertson, Julia Darling, Elizabeth Gill, Margaret Wilkinson, and The Northern Echo columnist Sharon Griffiths.

Pat Barker, Melvyn Bragg, Anne Fine and David Almond are patrons of the competition.

The closing date for entries is September 1.

The competition's first winner, Jonathan Tulloch, in 1998, saw his winning entry turned into a novel, The Season Ticket, and later the hit film Purely Belter.

Mr Tulloch will be talking about his work at the town hall on June 27, at 7.30pm.

For details, telephone (01388) 602610.