SUBMISSIONS from authors and publishers are being invited for the 30th Lakeland Book of the Year Awards.

The deadline for entries is March 20 and the judging panel will include Hunter Davies, BBC newsreader Fiona Armstrong and Gardeners’ Question Time chairman Eric Robson.

In conjunction with the awards, bursaries funded by Mr Davies will be presented to young writers needing assistance to write and publish their own works.

The competitions are open to established authors as well as first-time writers – as long as the books entered are about Cumbria and were published during 2013.

There will be five categories, with each providing a prize of £100.

The main prize, for the Lakeland Book of the Year, is given to the book judged to be the overall winner.

All prizes will be presented at a charity awards luncheon at The Inn on the Lake, Ullswater, on July 3.