HAVE you ever thought that you may have hidden treasure in your home? Not jewellery, artwork or antiques but the simple written word.

Many families have long-forgotten documents, leaflets, books or even newspapers gathering dust in attics, cellars, sheds or old cupboards.

But before you have a clear-out look carefully before you consign a piece of history to history - forever.

The British Library is appealing to readers of the Kent Messenger and Medway Messenger to discover hidden gems that might be of national importance as part of a competition linked in with your local library.

Once all the nominations are in, a panel of judges will select the best, which will then be converted into Turning the Pages 2.0 'virtual texts' and shared with the world via the British Library website at www.bl.uk

The Microsoft package allows readers to see up close some of the most valuable books and manuscripts in the world. There are about 20 currently available which include original score written by Mozart, the hand-written draft of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and William Blake’s notebook.

The British Library believes there are possible even greater finds lurking around in the most unlikely places and with our county have played such an important historical role in the life of the nation as well has its great literary links it is likely that something of real significance could be unearthed.

In the past lost treasures have been found in the county such as the only known copy of Christopher Marlowe’s signature, a picture of the French trapeze artist M Leotard sporting the first leotard and gossipy letters from Jane Austen.

British Library chief executive Lynne Brindley explained the software that had brought ancient text into the modern digital age.

"Turning the Pages 2.0 has been developed with Microsoft to demonstrate their new Windows Vista operating system. It enables an even richer user experience and speeds up the process of creating virtual text.

"The prize will be Turning the Pages 2.0 production and hosting packages worth £10,000 each for four public libraries in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to give them the opportunity to make Turning the Pages versions of one of their own treasures available online."

How to take part:

If you think you have unearthed something interesting and would like to nominate it for the competition, contact your local library.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, June 29. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to an awards ceremony at the British Library in early September when the winning libraries will be announced.