The Laurie Herring Prize for Critical Response

Enter our Young Critic Competition and tell us what inspires, provokes or baffles you

Closing date, 10th February 2025

You may either:

• Submit a review / essay / critical response of between 800 - 1000 words.

Or you may:

• Film, draw or record your response.

It doesn't matter what the subject is; it is your response we are interested in.

We'll be judging the competition in three categories: Years 7-8, Years 9-10 and Years 11-13.

We will be looking for powerful, persuasive voices, with original opinions and a flair for expressing them.

In each age category, the prizes are:

First: £100

Second: £50

Third: £25

The awards will be presented by the British novelist, fashion writer and biographer, Justine Picardie, at the National Centre for Writing, Norwich, on the Friday 28th March 2025, 6pm-7pm.

What is a ‘critical response’?

You may want to send us a voice note about the film you have just seen; you may want to film yourself offering a restaurant review; you may want to write something in response to that great new book you have just read… We’re ready to be surprised, and to spend some time with an exciting critical mind. 

Why the Laurie Herring Prize?

Because when we respond to the world critically and thoughtfully, we’re opening a conversation.

Doomscrolling through social media heads one way: downwards.  

Social media reflects our biases and ‘likes’. Our feeds might look vibrant and sound noisy, but that noise rings hollow with the emptiness of an echo chamber.   

Live in a world of nuance, not a world of snap judgements.