The BBC has launched The Comedy Classroom, a writing competition aimed at secondary school students in Years 9 and 10.

David Walliams, Marcus Brigstocke, Kerry Howard, Charlie Higson, Katy Wix and Adil Ray are amongst the comedy talent who are promoting the competition and contributing to teaching resources.

The Comedy Classroom competition, which is being run by the BBC in conjunction with the National Literacy Trust, aims to give 13-15-year-olds across the UK the chance to have their work made and broadcast by the BBC this autumn. The winners will also have a chance to visit the BBC to see their work filmed and receive a Comedy Classroom trophy, a signed certificate and a visit from a BBC Comedy comedian to their school.

There are three categories to enter:

Class Joker - Stand-up: Students can turn their personal observations and views of the world into a written and performed stand-up comedy routine.

Class Act - The Sketch: Students can write their own unique sketch and bring to life funny ideas and characters.

Class Comic - Clever Captions: Find the funny in the image and write a comedy caption.

David Walliams has filmed some videos to help explain the competition. Speaking to teachers, he says: "We all love to laugh, and we all love a competition. The BBC's comedy competition is where your class of comedians can share their comedic ideas with the nation.

"I was 12 when I first started writing and performing comedy sketches in my school. They were simple spoofs of TV shows at the time, but immediately I discovered that there's no better feeling in the world than making people laugh. So whether your class is full of budding per formers, or they're bursting with brilliant ideas for new comedy sketches - BBC Comedy Classroom is for you and your students."

Sinéad Rocks from the BBC says: "We want this competition to provide a fun and inspiring way to engage students by helping them find the funny side of literacy and by demonstrating how literacy is the bedrock of good comedy and comedy writing. We hope it provides some great laughs in classrooms across the UK as well as giving students the opportunity to produce some fantastic entries."

BBC Comedy Controller Shane Allen adds: "While this competition might uncover the next generation of brilliant comedy writers and performers the main aim is for everyone taking part to have fun and learn about some of the techniques that make great comedy. There is a great sense of original thinking and authorship in creating comedy as it often involves playing with language, concepts and a degree of lateral thinking. Lots of big name comedy talent are really engaged in this and promoting the joy of learning through laughter."

The National Literacy Trust, alongside the BBC, has produced bespoke and flexible classroom learning resources and activities to help teachers easily integrate the competition and comedy writing into lessons. These 60 minute lessons are drawn from the curriculum requirements for literacy and build on key reading, writing and speaking skills. Jonathan Douglas from the Trust says: "Our research shows that young people don't enjoy writing as much as they enjoy reading. We believe that introducing them to comedy writing can change that. Comedy harnesses many key writing skills to create laughs and can be a great asset in the classroom."

The closing date on the competition is July 24th, with winners announced in November.

Full details of The Comedy Classroom, plus teaching resources and the videos starring David Walliams can be found at bbc.co.uk/comedyclassroom