The Birmingham Evening Mail is offering a budding young journalism hopeful the chance to travel to Uganda and report on their experiences there.

The Trinity Mirror-owned newspaper has teamed up with charity Plan UK, which helps deprived children in places such as Africa and Asia, for the competition. It will see one lucky teenage reader jet off to the East African country in the New Year.

The Evening Mail is asking local youngsters between the age of 13 and 18 to write a short report on one of the three topical issues of sex education, HIV and Aids or binge-drinking.

And a winner will be chosen by a panel of judges which will include Evening Mail editor Roger Borrell and Eastenders star Kim Metcalf, a supporter of Plan UK.

The articles written by the winner and two runners-up will then be published in the Birmingham-based newspaper, before the winner and a parent or guardian fly off to Uganda, accompanied by a journalist from the Evening Mail.

During the trip the winning wannabe journalist will meet local children and write a further article for the paper recounting their experiences on the trip.

The two runners-up will also be given a taste of journalism, with the chance to become editor of the Evening Mail for a day.

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