15 More Writing Opportunities for Young Writers (July – September 2016)
It would seem there are plenty of opportunities out there for young writers and other creatives if you know where to look. Whether you’re a young person wanting to know where to submit your work, or a teacher hoping to inspire the creative children and teenagers in your care, I’ve gathered a stack of current competitions for your perusal. I’ve listed them in chronological order of closing date, and they include poetry, short stories, non-fiction, history, art and photography, so you’re bound to find something that appeals.
1. QIEUA Awards for Excellence in Art Design
The Brief: Produce a piece of artwork that best reflects the theme, ‘In the Garden’. Your artwork may take the form of a poster and include a statement or caption to reinforce your visual image. You may use a variety of media (paint, crayon, pencil, ink etc). Artworks should be no larger than 100 cm by 60 cm.
Open to: school students and teachers in independent schools throughout Queensland.
Categories: pre-school/kindergarten; prep-year 2; years 3-4; years 5-6; years 7-8; years 9-10; years 11-12; open.
Cost: Free.
Prizes: There are a range of prizes up for grabs, depending on the category and age group.
Closing date: 22 July 2016.
A poster and entry form can be downloaded from QIEU (Independent Education Union, Queensland and Northern Territory Branch) website.
2. QIEU Literary Competition
The brief: Write a poem, short story or piece of non-fiction. No particular theme has been specified.
Open to: students and teachers in all schools in Queensland and independent schools in the Northern Territory.
Categories:
- A. Years 11-12: 1. poem; 2. short story (600-1500 words) 3. Non-fiction (600-1500 words), either a feature article or an editorial for a newspaper
- B. Years 9-10: 1. poem; 2. short story (500-1500 words)
- C. Years 7-8: 1. poem; 2. short story (500-1200 words)
- D. Year 6: 1. poem; 2. short story (400-800 words)
- E. Open (teachers): 1. short story (800-2500 words)
Cost: free.
Prizes: There are a range of prizes (between $100 and $350) depending on the age group.
Closing date: 22 July 2016.
A poster and entry form can be downloaded from the QIEU (Independent Education Union, Queensland and Northern Territory Branch) website.
3. KSP Writers’ Centre Ghost Story Competition
The brief: Write a poem or piece of prose on the theme of ‘Into the Woods’ (young writers) or ‘In a Haunted House’ (adults). Young writers (8-18 years) are to write a maximum of 500 words of prose or 25 lines of poetry. Adults are to write a maximum of 1,500 words of prose or 50 lines of poetry.
Open to: Western Australian residents only.
Categories: youth (8-18 years); adult.
Cost: free.
Prizes: Check out the Ghost Story competition page on the KSP website for details of prizes.
Closing date: Friday, 29 July 2016.
Further details and information about how to submit your entry can be found online.
4. Trudy Graham-Julie Lewis Literary Award for Prose
The Trudy Graham-Julie Lewis Literary Award is not exclusively a young writers competition, but it does have a youth section within it.
The Brief: Submit a piece of prose on an open theme, up to 2,000 words.
Open to: entrants who are currently residing in Australia.
Categories: young writers (12-18 years); open (over 18).
Cost: $15 for one entry; $25 for two entries; $35 for three entries.
Prizes: 1st ($200), 2nd ($100) and 3rd ($50) plus a $50 Judge’s Encouragement Award for Youth (12-18 years). Also four Highly Commended certificates and four Commended certificates.
Closing date: 12 August 2016.
As with all competitions, make sure you read the entry guidelines, to make sure your submission conforms to the specified requirements.
5. City of Rockingham Short Story Award
The Brief: Write an original story between 1,000 words and 4,000 words, which is inspired by, drawn upon, or uses the theme of the artwork on the entry form, titled “Mixed Media Study” by Drewfus Gates.
Categories: young writers (10-17 years); adult; over 50s.
Cost: free.
Prizes: There are a range of prizes available ranging from $100 to $600.
Closing date: Friday, 12 August 2016.
You can download an entry form from the City of Rockingham website.
6. Write On 2016
Using a photograph as a stimulus, students are asked to compose an imaginative piece of writing up to 500 words in length.
The brief: Using the photo provided on the Write On webpage, write a short imaginative piece (up to 500 words) in one of the following forms:
- Narrative
- letters
- poem
- script for radio, film or theatre
- interview
- journal entries
Open to: NSW students in years 1-6.
Categories: This is a teacher-directed competition, with entries being submitted and verified by the school. Schools can submit up to three entries, one at each ‘stage’.
Prize: The 2015 winners were published in an anthology.
Closing date: 24 August 2016.
Head to the Write On website for more, including the online entry form.
7. National History Challenge for Australian Students
According to its website the National History Challenge “is a research-based competition for students. It gives students a chance to be an historian, researching world history, examining Australia’s past, investigating their community or exploring their own roots. It emphasises and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.”
The brief: Students are to create a response to the 2016 theme, which is Triumph or Tragedy, using one of the following formats – individual research essay, museum display or one of several other formats, including multimedia, performance or website. Further details of what is required for each format can be found on the history challenge website. Teachers must register their school and select up to 6 entries for each category.
Open to: Australian students from primary age up to year 12, and are 19 years of age or younger. Students can progress from School to Regional to State/Territory and National finals.
Categories: primary 1 (up to year 4); primary 2 (years 5 and 6); year 7; year 8; year 9; year 10; Senior (years 11-12).
Cost: free.
Prizes: All students who participate receive a Certificate of Participation, but there are a range of other prizes at both a state and national level.
Closing date: entries must reach your state coordinator before Friday, 26 August 2016.
More details about how to enter can be found on the National History Challenge website.
8. PhotoVoice
Photo Voice is a photographic competition being run by the City of Rockingham.
The Brief: PhotoVoice invites participants to take photos on the theme of Act-Belong-Commit, and then include a sentence or short paragraph explaining the photos; this gives the photo a ‘voice’.
There are two photographic styles that you can enter: non-modified works (simple modification only) and modified works (extensive modification permitted). Further details about what this means can be found on the PhotoVoice competition page.
Categories: 12 years and under; 13-17 years; 18 years and over. There is also a ‘Student Workshop’ and ‘Student Workshop – Abilities’ category for the high school and TAFE students who participated in the digital photography workshops.
Cost: free.
Closing date: Monday, 29 August 2016.
Head to the PhotoVoice page on the City of Rockingham website for further competition guidelines and to enter online.
9. Speculative Fiction Competition
The brief: Write a piece of speculative fiction, which includes the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction and paranormal. Young writers should submit a story that is 500-2,000 words, while the word limits for adults are 1,000-2,000 words.
Open to: Australian residents.
Categories: youth (10 to 20 years); adult
Cost: youth (free); adult (1 story $10; 2 stories $15; 3 stories $20)
Prizes: Check out the competition’s web page for further information.
Closing date: Friday, 2 September 2016.
Head to the KSP website for further details about how to enter and to download an entry form.
10. Gen Zed Competition
The West Australian invites students to choose from a range of story options, and write their own article for the newspaper’s ‘Ed Magazine’, which appears as a lift-out each Tuesday.
The Brief: Choose from the options below and have a go!
- Keep Watch: Write a Q&A about a young person achieving at a state or national level in sports or the arts.
- Spot On: Survey your friends and let us know what they think.
- The Buzz: What are kids up to these days? What are kids interested in?
- Make It: Write instructions for some cool craft ideas.
- The Word: Review a book you think everyone should read.
- How? What? Who?: How does it work? or What is? or Who is? Choose a topic and share some interesting fact.
- Mind Game: Create three puzzles, including one crossword.
Open to: year 3 – 6 students in Western Australian schools.
Cost: free.
Prizes: Winning students receive a $100 cash prize. Students might also have their winning entry published in a special edition of The West Australian’s ED! Magazine on Tuesday, October 25.
Closing date: Friday, 9 September 2016.
More details can be found online, including some useful writing tips for students.
11. The Heywire Competition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1fy4wetUJw
The Heywire Competition is an opportunity for young people living outside the big cities to have their work produced for the ABC, and be heard by a national audience.
The Brief: Create a story in any media (text, video, photography or audio) about life in Australia outside the major cities. Your story must be a true story about you and/or your community. It could be a personal story about an aspect of your life; a challenge you’ve overcome; something you’d like to change about your community; or simply why you like living where you do.
Possible formats: Text entry (roughly 400 words); video (2-4 minutes); audio (2-4 minutes); photo series (about 5 images).
Open to: Young people aged 16-22 on 31 January 2017, who live in Australia but not in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth or Sydney.
Cost: free.
Closing date: 16 September 2016.
Check out the Heywire website for further details, including hints on creating a great entry (scroll down the webpage a little way).
12. KSP Short Fiction Competition
The Brief: Write a short story on an open theme. Young writers are to write between 500 and 2,000 words, while adults should write a minimum of 1,000 and a maximum of 2,000 words.
Open to: Australian residents.
Categories: youth (10 to 20 years); adult.
Cost: youth (free); adult (1 story $10; 2 stories $15; 3 stories $20).
Prizes: Check out the competition’s web page for further information.
Closing date: Friday, 16 September 2016.
13. Sonnet Writing Competition
The Shakespeare Club of Western Australia are celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death by running a Sonnet Writing Competition.
The Brief: Compose a Shakespearean Sonnet as follows:
- The sonnet should be 14 lines, written in iambic pentameter with a traditional Shakespearean sonnet rhyming scheme. Modern English vocabulary is acceptable; use of ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ is not required.
- The sonnet’s first quatrain should introduce a Western Australian subject or theme in a literary, social, historical, political, environmental, etc context.
- The sonnet should have three quatrains, developing or expanding the main subject; a different idea may be expressed in each quatrain, each growing out of the one preceding it.
- The final rhymed couplet should ‘tie up’ or conclude the argument or subject matter of the sonnet.
- The sonnet should have a title.
Open to: As well as an open (adult) category, there is also a student category, which is open to all students of any secondary school in Western Australia.
Categories: adults; secondary school students.
Cost: $5 per entry. Up to 3 entries permitted
Closing date: 23 September 2016.
Go to the Perth Shakespeare Club blog for competition guidelines and to download an entry form.
14. KSP Poetry Competition
The Brief: Write a poem on an open theme. Young writers are to write a minimum of 6 lines and a maximum of 50 lines, while adults should submit between 14 and 50 lines.
Open to: Australian residents.
Categories: youth (12 to 20 years); adult.
Cost: youth (free); adult (1 poem $10; 2 poem $15; 3 poem $20).
Prizes: Check out the competition’s web page for further information.
Closing date: Friday, 30 September 2016.
Check out the KSP Writers’ Centre competition pages for more information about how to enter and to download an entry form.
15. 2017 Redgum Book Club Young Writers’ Award
The Young Writers’ Award recognises and encourages the writing talents of Australian children by providing them the opportunity to have their stories published and distributed in Australia. The award can be entered by individuals, or by schools as part of their writing programs. This one’s not actually due until December, but I thought I’d give you a head start.
The brief: create a children’s picture book of up to 250 words or a children’s short story of up to 1000 words.
Open to: children aged between 9 and 13 years of age, and enrolled as a primary or secondary student, or home schooled.
Categories: The Children’s Picture Book category requires entrants to create a short, structure story up to 250 words, which can be fiction or non fiction. In the Children’s Short Story category, entrants create a work of short fiction between 850 and 1000 words. No illustrations are required for either category, as the winning story will be illustrated and produced as a hard copy book and in e-book format.
Cost: Free.
Prizes: Each shortlisted entry will receive a $150 Redgum Book Club voucher and Certificate of Achievement. The winner of each category will be published as a hard copy book and in e-format.
Closing date: Sunday 11 December 2016.
Head to the Young Writers’ Award website where you can find more details about the entry criteria and an online entry form.