It is a sad fact that literacy levels in Bradford are not what they should be. According to the National Literacy Trust, almost half of adults in some parts of Bradford do not have the literacy skills that they should.

Reading and writing are skills that are essential for navigating every day life, and those skills must be learned at as early an age as possible.

Children today have far more distractions than ever before that steer them away from reading and writing - TV, the internet, games consoles and tablet computers all vie for their attention.

But as well as being the basic building blocks of any education, literacy skills also provide children with the unparalleled joy of reading, and to this end we have at the Telegraph & Argus, in the run-up to the Bradford Literature Festival which runs in May, launched a competition to encourage children to both read and write for pleasure.

We are running a competition to get young people in the district writing reviews of their favourite books, with prizes including an iPad and hundreds of pounds of book vouchers up for grabs.

We all know the pressures that families are under, both in terms of time and finances. But the beauty of books are that they can be picked up and read at any time, even for a few minutes at a go, and - thanks to our district's wonderful libraries - are available for free.

Instilling a love of reading and a thirst for knowledge in our children is something all families should aim for, to give them both the tools for adulthood and the joys of giving their imagination flight.