In scenes more reminiscent of a Harry Potter book launch than a festival event people queued outside a Norwich bookshop to be the first to start their street hunt.

The Norfolk and Norwich Festival's quirky competition, sponsored by the EDP, challenges people to work out the name of a blanked out pictures of street signs and fit it into a poem.

People were able to buy or collect their pre-ordered copy of the Street Hunt book from The Book Hive on London Street as the clock struck midnight and the first day of the festival begun last night .

Five group have been chosen to be the face of street hunt and it is hoped they will blog and use social media to keep people informed about how they are getting on.

These are the Norwich and District Diabetes Youth Group, friends Carla Henderson and Andrea Campbell, a group of Hethersett villagers, a group from the Writer's Centre in Norwich and a group from the Sheringham-based charity Break.

Joshua Sofaer, producer of the event and author of the puzzle, said he had been really gratified by how many people had turned up to the launch and that there had been a queue outside the bookshop.

Well over 100 copies of the book have been sold which mean the prize fund already totals more than �1,000. There are a total of 1,000 copies of the book and a potential prize fund of �10,000 if all the books are sold.

'We will now embark on what could be a five year process', he said.

'Some people are already finding it very addictive. There is one man who said on Facebook that he hasn't been able to do any work.'

Mr Sofaer said that it would be interesting to hear about the experiences of people doing the competition and any stories they have along the way.

Shane Hull, one of the Hethersett villagers, said: 'We are a small group of villagers from Hethersett who have always supported the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and in addition are always entering quizzes and competitions. We would be happy to blog our way around the County with good humour and photos.

'When we win the �10,000, we intend to solve the mystery of the Bermuda triangle or at worst get lost in the Caribbean?'

• People are being urged to keep people posted on how they are getting on Twitter by following @winstreethunt, @NNFest, @VisitNorwich, @EDP24. You can also find Street Hunt on Facebook.