The BBC Young Writers Award is an opportunity for budding writers between the ages of 15 to 18 years old. The five stories which make up this year's shortlist were inspired by a desire for socio-political change and personal experience of mental illness. They all show a maturity of language and ideas far beyond their years. Whether it be the brutal life of a unwilling young poacher; the desperation and prejudice faced by a mother fighting to give her daughter a better life; the experience of loss seen through a child's eyes; the guilt of unspoken words as a family struggle to cope with mental illness or the pain of a young girl watching her sister in the grip of anorexia - the finalists have given powerful insight into the issues facing and motivating young people today and the importance of writing as expression.
