A competition which aims to encourage creativity within the marketing industry while supporting a good cause is now open for entries.

The agency which wins The Creative Shootout 2018 will receive a £250,000 media prize fund, as well as £30,000 in fees from Foodshare.

The charity is responsible for feeding half a million people a week, and re-distributes good, surplus food to more than 6,700 frontline groups.

The prize fund is being offered by 1XL, one of the UK’s leading digital advertising partnerships which represents more than 800 trusted local news sites, including Newsquest titles such as News Shopper, the South London Guardian series, Surrey Comet and Richmond & Twickenham Times.

1XL, which was formed by a UK media-first partnership between 30 of the UK’s regional news publishers including Newsquest, Johnston Press and Archant, has teamed up with The Creative Shootout, the awards for the creative industry, to launch this year’s competition.

To enter, agencies need to give the judges 60 seconds of content on why they have the creativity to run a marketing campaign for FareShare.

Eight entries will be shortlisted and go on to a live final at Bafta in London on January 25, when they will receive the real brief from FareShare. The team will get four hours to work on their ideas before pitching them to the judges and live audience.

Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest, a founding partner in 1XL, said: “1XL will serve to communicate the winning creative and message to every corner of the UK through 800 trusted local news brands and a digital audience of over 23 million people a month.

"The Creative Shootout is unique with its real-time focus and our £250,000 media spend will hopefully make a meaningful difference to the issue of food poverty in the UK.”

Entries close on November 28. See creativeshootout.com