Royal Mail’s letter writing competition for children aged 7-11 asks your students to write to ‘My First Class Hero’. 

The hero can be real, fictional or imaginary – a soldier in Afghanistan, Rebecca Adlington, Usain Bolt, Hannah Montana, JK Rowling, Cheryl Cole, Nelson Mandela, a friend, family member or even a pet.  

We are looking for imaginative and creative letters with a purpose, that tell us why he or she is their hero.

Entries will be judged in two age categories 7-9 and 10-11. We will also have a third ‘special achievement’ category.

There are lots of chances to win as the competition will have 33 winners and 99 runners-up across 11 regions: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, North East England, North West England, London, South East England, Anglia, Midlands, South West and Thames Valley.

The three categories, each with one winner and three runners-up, in each region are:

• Ages 7-9
• Ages 10-11 
• Special Achievement Award*

*for children you tell us about with additional needs or who have overcome exceptional experiences or difficulties to enter

Winners each receive £50 in book tokens and their face on a set of Smilers stamps plus they win a £75 box of letter-writing goodies for their school. The three runners-up each receive a £10 book token.

Teachers can download and print a Letter Writing Certificate from below for everyone in the class who writes a letter.

Royal Mail will organise publicity for winners and runners up at their school.

Entries will be assessed in the age groups 7-9, 10-11 years and the Special Achievement category.

Our judges will look for originality, freedom of expression and creativity in the letter content.  The content is as important as presentation: while entries should follow the basic letter-format we will take age into consideration and don’t expect them to be ‘perfect’!

Winners will be announced in the spring term 2010.

This competition has been designed for use as a class based exercise. Teachers are asked to act as judges, selecting the three best entries in their class to enter in the competition.

We are keen to encourage entries from children of all abilities. Children with additional needs or those who have overcome exceptional experiences or difficulties to take part in the competition should have their entry supported by comments from the teacher.

Teachers are asked to download the covering entry form, complete it and send it with up to three** selected class entries to the address below before Friday 27th November 2009. This form covers all the information we need so please complete all sections before returning.

Please read the Young Letter Writers Competition Rules  before submitting entries.

We are always pleased to offer advice on any aspect of this competition so call Kathryn Hollingsworth on 0207 404 6064 if you have any questions.

**you can submit three entries for the age category and up to three for Special Achievement category from the same class.