THERE’S one week left to enter our Sunday National essay competition – and today, we’re revealing the Yessay judges.

Our contest is aimed at getting the independence movement thinking about how to win over undecided voters, and putting pen to paper in answering a simple question: “Why should Scotland be independent?”

You can submit your 1600-2200 word entries by emailing letters@thenational.scot, but we’d recommend reading our article with all the T&Cs first – which you can do by clicking right here.

Our judges for this competition will be Sunday National editor Roxanne Sorooshian, National columnist Lesley Riddoch and University of Glasgow professor of Scottish literature Alan Riach, who you’ll also know from our pages.

The National: Vector illustration of a fountain pen on a blue background with white letters below it..

On what he’s looking for from the essays, Alan said: “I’d like to think that the essayists addressing the question, ‘Why should Scotland be independent?’ would engage speculation, wondering and playing with ideas, as well as showing themselves capable of marshalling facts and demonstrating conclusively the hard proof – without overwhelming anyone with avalanches of information.

“And there’s another challenge: how do you write persuasively about something you might think was already an obvious truth? Some novelty and originality of image or anecdote might help. But freshness of language and thought will be paramount.”

Lesley added: “This is a great way to focus minds creatively and reflect a little over the summer before the hurly-burly of the next indyref campaign begins.

“I’m not looking too much for facts, figures or even smart new strategies on the border, currency or EU. I’m hoping to read something that makes sense of where we are now, that’s positive and has a vision of Scotland beyond my lifetime. A tall order! But I’m sure lots of folk have it in them.”

We’ll also be in touch with our digital subscribers soon to explain how they can cast their own vote. Good luck!