The READ educational trust is calling on pupils at primary and high schools to enter its Word Warrior competition to stand a chance to win cash prize and books for their schools.

The fourth annual writing competition will give thousands of children in SA a creative learning opportunity.

Teachers and parents are urged to encourage their children aged between 9 and 16 to put their vivid imaginations onto paper. The winner will receive a cash prize of R1,000, and their school will be awarded R5,000's worth of books.

READ spokesperson Lizelle Landford said the pupils are required to write a letter, using a word warrior character called detective Nkomba and use creativity.

"The learners must write short stories using the character anyway they like. They can either turn the character into an animal story or even become detective Nkomba.

"For the 2019 Word Warrior Competition, our literary geniuses in-the-making are required to create a scenario in which our intrepid detective writes a letter to the main suspect or witness in a mystery of their own making ...," she said.

"Naturally, the objective is to state details of the mystery at hand, to paint a picture of the addressee's alleged involvement in the mystery, and to whether the reader's appetite to read further."

Landford said the character can be made a female or male.

"In previous letters we found out that the pupils found the writing competition fun and they wrote about educational fantasies, nature, science unlike in the classroom where they are restricted sticking to a uniform theme or structure," she said.

Pupils will be judged on creativity. "They don't even have to worry about their spelling mistakes and they can use any language of their choice.

Entries can be sent via email to info@read.co.za or via post to PO Box 30994, Braamfontein 2017, on or before October 31 2019.

For more info about the 2019 READ Word Warrior Competition, contact READ Educational Trust on 0872377781, or visit www.read.org.za.