A weekly newspaper in West Wales is running a competition to find a new columnist.

It has invited readers to send in 300-word sample columns with nine shortlisted contenders published in a centre spread last week before being put to a public vote.

The winner will get to write a regular column for at least the next year – when the paper plans to run the competition again.

The new column will replace one called My Daughter’s War, the diary of a mum whose 19-year-old girl was serving as a soldier out in Afghanistan, which came to an end with the end of her tour out there.

Llanelli Star editor Bede MacGowan said: “We are always keen to interact with our community as much and as often as possible and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to get readers involved and create a bit of a buzz at the same time.

“Of course the future of local newspapers is a hot topic and we are always open to new ideas of ways to evolve the Star and its content to reflect changing times.

“The advent of new media means people are becoming used to playing a part in telling their own stories and news, but there is still plenty of prestige in writing for your local newspaper – we decided to combine these two concepts.

“We decided not to offer payment  because there seemed no need to do so, given the fantastic opportunity on offer, and the response certainly backed that up. We now hope to make this an annual competition.”

The columns covered a range of topics ranging from debt advice, to the local housing market to an English girl writing about living in Wales and someone taking a look at some of the town’s most colourful characters.

Trainee reporter Robert Dalling originally came up with the idea of a competition.