Entries are open for Young Nature Blogger 2021.

Run by Unesco Biosphere Isle of Man, the competition challenges those aged 21 and under to write up to 500 words about any aspect of nature.

Local winners will receive Manx Wildlife Trust goodie bags and have their work published in one of our newspapers.

There’s added incentive to enter this year as, for the first time, three other Unesco Biospheres in the UK and Ireland are joining in and there will also be an overall prize of a ’nature experience’ in the winner’s Biosphere and a trophy.

The overall prize is being judged by award-winning young nature writer Dara McAnulty, a regular on BBC Television’s Countryfile, whose first book, Diary of a Young Naturalist, published when he was 16, beat titles by Sir David Attenborough and Barack Obama to British Book of the Year (non fiction/narrative). His new book, Wild Child, has just come out.

Jo Overty, Unesco Biosphere Isle of Man Project Officer, said: ’The weather is gorgeous and many of us are out and about enjoying nature at its finest right now.

’With school and college holidays, there’s also more time to get out and explore.

’Whether it’s writing about the antics of our resident dolphins Moonlight and Starlight, or about a part of the island that’s special to you, I hope young people are inspired to send in their blogs by the deadline of August 12.’

Entries should be emailed to [email protected] and include a name, age, email and telephone number.

Or they can be posted or dropped in to Unesco Biosphere Isle of Man, DEFA, Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, IM4 3AS, marking the envelope ’Young Nature Blogger 2021’.