A number of young writers in the Isle of Man have had their stories published as part of the ‘Manx Bedtime Stories Project’.

Youngsters were invited to take part in the creative writing competition to ‘bring their imagination and literary talents to life’, which resulted in a collection of stories being written from children aged six to 13.

Participants could either work on their own or collaborate with friends to weave together 500 words and four pictures around one of the following themes: ‘friendship’, ‘kindness’, ‘courage’, ‘respect’ or ‘finding your own voice in the world’.

Each of the winning entries have now been featured in one of the six books which form the ‘Manx Bedtime Stories’ series, while there were also ten runner-up prizes handed out.

At the recent prize presentation at the Palace Hotel in Douglas, the project founder Robert Cowley congratulated all participants for their stories.

The winning stories, which were recorded by Manx Radio, were broadcast to guests at the event at Looky’s Bar in Douglas and are now available in the audio library at the Sight Matters building in Onchan.

Rob said: ‘To coincide with two new stories, and a reprint of the four older books, it was decided to run a creative writing competition.

‘We estimated there might be about 20 entries and yet ended up with more than three times that amount. This shows that children still like to write and be creative even in our digital world of phones and computers.

‘The level was truly superb - so many wonderful stories from such talented young people and the judges really had a tough job to whittle them down. In fact, we could have printed far more.’

The colourful Manx Bedtime Stories each promote a positive moral message for young children with the variety of themes that they were asked to write about.

The proceeds of each book will now benefit a local charity in the shape of ‘Breast Cancer Now’, ‘Wish Upon A Dream’, ‘Sight Matters’, ‘Looky’s Aid’, ‘Isle Listen’ and ‘Remember Me’.

Copies of previous books written by Rob have been donated to groups such as Rebecca House and the Children’s Ward at Noble’s Hospital.

Rob added: ‘I would like to thank Bridge Bookshop for their support so I could provide vouchers to all the children who entered the competition.

‘My final message to the children would simply be to keep on writing!’