In conjunction with the beginning of the new school semester, The Khronicles newspaper has announced its 2009/2010 Teen Journalism Essay competition for high school students.

The young competitors are being asked to write 300 to 400 words on "The Most Important Civic or Cultural Issue of the Day."

The competition is open to two groups of students: junior high school and high school.

The essays will be judged on content, clarity, style, grammar, readers' interest, and the originality with which the student approaches the topic, and will be judged by a committee of the newspaper's editorial staff. The winning essay from each group will be published in The Khronicles and will receive a cash prize of 100 euros and a plague, and the winning author will be offered a regular writing assignment for the newspaper. Other prizes will be announced.

Requirements: Submissions, either by email or at the newspaper's office in Kokkini Hani, will be accepted starting from now through to March 31, 2010, and winners will be announced in May 2010. Participants may submit as many entries as they wish; all entries must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or an equivalent font with a one-inch margin on all sides of the page, and must contain the writer's name, age, address, telephone number, email address (if applicable) and school.