Can you write a spooky Christmas ghost story? Enter our competition....

The News’ popular Christmas writing competition is back.

We want you to think scary and spooky as you pen your own festive tale.

Just like Portsmouth’s literary legend Charles Dickens, who wrote the all-time classic A Christmas Carol, we want you to come up with stories that have a Christmas flavour. They can be set in times gone by or the modern world.

The characters, content and how the storyline develops are entirely up to you.

There are two age categories– one for authors aged 15 and under and one for those aged 16 and over.

We’ll be publishing the entries of the winners and runners-up in each category in The News in the run-up to Christmas.

There are also prizes to be won – as well as the thrill of seeing their stories in print and recorded for The News website at portsmouth.co.uk

The Hayling Island Bookshop are once again providing prizes for the winners of the competition: £50 to spend in-store.

They are one of the smallest bookshops in the UK but manage to run or support events with authors for around 20,000 people each year.

Events manager ColinTelford said: ‘It’s great TheNews is once again running this competition to encourage writers young and old to submit a story.

‘Portsmouth is the birthplace of one of the most famous ghost story writers of all time. So let’s see if there’s another Christmas Carol out

there!’

Entering our Christmas ghost story contest couldn’t be easier.

All you need to do is write a ghost story with a Christmas theme.

It must be no more than 1,000 words long and it must be all your own work – but apart from that the content is up to you.

You can e-mail your story to [email protected] or post it to: Christmas Ghost Story Competition, Features Department, The News, 1000 Lakeside, North Harbour, Portsmouth PO6 3EN.

Please make sure you include your full name, address, age and a daytime phone number.

The competition closes at midnight on December 6. The editor’s decision is final.

Go to jpimedia.co.uk for full terms and conditions.