Bridport Literary Festival is launching a new bursary scheme to help local students planning to go to university this year.

The BridLit bursary will allow two successful candidates £1,000 a year for each year of their three-year degree course, in any subject.

Chair of trustees Deirdre Coates said: "The festival is now in its 19th year and we feel we should use surplus funds to help the community that has supported it all these years. 

"As a registered charity, the festival has as its objective the advancement of education, so what better way to use these funds than to help local students go on to further education?

"The ever-growing costs for university students must be working as a deterrent for some and the bursary may go some way to helping two students a year to decide to read for a degree course."

BridLit already supports Read Easy, a nationwide charity with an active branch in Bridport, which helps adults with reading difficulties. It also helps the Bank of Dreams and Nightmares, a registered charity which offers free creative writing workshops to West Dorset children aged 7-18. 

The BridLit Bursary is open to Year 13 students applying for an undergraduate course beginning in 2023 who are in the Beaminster-Colfox joint sixth form or who live within Dorset Council's Bridport ward.

In no more than 4,000 characters, they will need to explain why they think they are a suitable candidate, why they have chosen their subject of study, and how they see the BridLit Bursary helping them to achieve their goals. 

Said Mrs Coates: "This process is very simple and every young person in the Bridport area who is planning to go to university this autumn is encouraged to apply."

This year's Bridport Literary Festival takes place in venues in and around the town from November 5 to 11.