STARTED as a small initiative to encourage creative writing among schoolchildren, The Standard's Cover To Cover short story writing competition is poised to become a major event on Zimbabwe's literary calendar.

The Standard, in partnership with the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust -- the key vehicle for supporting the growth and development of arts and culture in the country and other interested stakeholders -- have pooled technical and financial resources to develop the Cover To Cover initiative to expand its activities in exploring and supporting creative writing among school children.

"Our idea is to ensure that Cover To Cover goes beyond being just an annual event where we reward aspiring young writers but becomes an integral part of the learning process," explained The Standard and Zimbabwe Independent group chief executive officer, Raphael Khumalo.

He said the coming on board of the Culture Fund was an exciting development for the Cover To Cover venture which has been running in The Standard for the past three years.

According to Khumalo, the first major step in taking the Cover To Cover venture a step further will be the launch this month of the first compilation of the winning short stories since the competition started in 2006. The 160-page anthology, under the title Children Writing Zimbabwe, contains a selection of short stories from the three issues of Cover To Cover magazines so far published as supplements in The Standard.

"These stories bring to the fore the wealth of literary talent that lies untapped in the young people which should be encouraged and nurtured at every step," said Khumalo.

He said in pioneering the idea of a short story writing competition among school children, The Standard was encouraged by the level of support it received from various other stakeholders who share in the newspaper's vision.

Various organisations, including the British Council, World Vision, World Bank, Stanbic Bank, Nestle and Meikles Hotel have been involved in supporting the Cover To Cover initiative since its inception. Much of the support involved providing prizes for winners as well as funding for the magazine's publication.