Read the 10 shortlisted Letters to Myself. Click on the links below to see the letters in full.
Dear Peteby Peter Davies
Yes, it's quite a dilemma, isn't it? There you are, your National Service behind you, back working in the City Hall in Cardiff with a job for life. You're an indispensable member of the NALGO football club, have the pick of the Hollerith Girls to take out every Saturday night and you've almost saved the 35 quid you need to buy that 1936 Austin Ruby you've been drooling over...
Dear Dorothyby Dorothy Jamal
Why on earth are you feeling so low? I can't believe you are such a coward that you can't face the future with confidence and faith. What on earth has happened to you? Is it really possible that what lies ahead can be any worse than much of the past?
by Dawn Kalu
I see you there painting the cupboard yellow in the child's room. You have just bought her first bed so it is decorating time. The time is eating at you as each hour passes and the dread notches up. Painting, rhythmic brushing, holds the panic down...
A Letter to Myself aged 3 years, 9 months, dated 2 June 1940
by J. W. Marsh
Dear Jimmy, I am writing to you today because you have just been told that your Daddy has been killed in the war. He will not be coming home again, and you will not be able to see him anymore...
Letter to Myself: A Cautionary Tale
by Harold Nash
Dear H, Life is a pilgrimage. It came upon you, like happiness. But now you must re-examine your past, look again lest those shadows return.
Dear Carrieby Barbara Needham
Even at a distance of over 50 years, I can see you in my mind's eye, sitting at the end of a garden looking solemn. You are seven years old and a Labrador is settled at your feet. You are stroking his warm fur for comfort.
Dear Lauraby Laura Peters
Fifty years on, I still remember the feelings you are going through now. The hopes, the fluttering excitement followed by the crushing embarrasment of sitting against the wall whilst others whirl around the dance floor.
A Letter to Myself, aged 15by Maggie Smith
Dear Margaret, Seems funny to call you that but the parents insist. You can change it, only don't assume another name will change your past or your self. You often think that life is hard on you, most 15-year-olds do, it's partly hormones, but it's partly true.
Dear Janeby Eileen Terry
Do you remember that Saturday morning when you decided no one would ever want to marry you? Saturday mornings, when you went out, hand-in-hand with your Daddy? Quality time they would call it now.
Letter to Myselfby Jay Woogara
Dear Jay, I shall be 65 years old next month. I now feel I am experienced enough to empathise with you about the traumatic time that you suffered when you left primary school.
