The John Muir Trust is inviting writing that reflects inspiration from wild places

Budding writers are asked to share their thoughts in a competition run by one of Scotland’s leading conservation charities.

The Wild Writing competition organisers are looking for fictional or non-fictional work with a theme of experience in wild places. The John Muir Trust is running the competition for the fourth time.

The JMT says the theme could reflect a journey, a place, an expedition, a mountain or river, a walk, climb, sail or kayak, or any wild experience that has been inspirational to the writer.

The trust wants the piece, which should not be longer than 1,200 words, to celebrate landscape and wild places. Entries can be in either English or Gaelic.

All shortlisted finalists’ work will be exhibited at the Fort William Mountain Festival and the winning entry will appeal in the JMT’s journal.

The trust is named after the father of modern national parks, who was born in Dunbar, East Lothian in 1838 and emigrated to the USA as a child, where he found fame as a botanist, geologist, mountaineer and pioneer of ecology.

The deadline for the Wild Writing competition is 18 January 2010. Details and entry forms are on the JMT’s website.  Judges and prizes will be announced later.