Corrie star Julie Hesmondhalgh – who plays Hayley Cropper – is to host an awards night for the finalists of her creative writing competition

Julie launched the competition throughout secondary schools in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and Blackburn in March, in memory of Sophie Lancaster, a young woman who was attacked and killed in a park in 2007 because she was dressed as a goth.

The judging panel, including Corrie’s Katherine Kelly and Katy Kavanagh, This Is England’s Vicky McClure, poet Simon Armitage, Joy Division’s Peter Hook, Shameless’ Will Ash and Sophie’s mother Sylvia Lancaster, have helped Julie to whittle down the finalists from 1033 entries.

MSN reports that the final 11 will be invited to a special awards night at Manchester’s Contact Theatre on Tuesday, 8 November, where their works will be performed by stars including Katherine Kelly and Waterloo Road actor Will Rush.

A shortlist of 26 works will be published in a book, the profits from which will go to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation (www.sophielancasterfoundation.com).

Julie said, “Part of my work on Coronation Street has always been sort of championing those issues around us all being the same under the skin, despite whatever we’ve been in through in our lives or are going through and so that’s really important to me.”