Young Writer Competitions
If you’re a young writer in Australia, and have been wondering about opportunities to submit your work, then look no further. This post contains a list of writing competitions for young writers in Australia, together with useful information such as word limits, closing dates and links to entry forms.
Be sure to check back regularly, though, because I’ll update the post whenever info about other competitions (or publishing opportunities) are released. You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter, in which I always include a list of opportunities for the coming month.
The competitions listed are in chronlogoical order of closing date, apart from the first one listed, as it has a different competition each month.
1. Write the World (ongoing monthly competitions)
Write the World describes itself as a ‘community of young writers (ages 13-18), hailing from over 80 countries’. Write the World holds monthly competitions, developed around a particular idea or genre of writing. The competitions encourage you to try out new genres and share your work with other readers, as well as offering the opportunity to receive peer and expert feedback, before submitting your final piece.
Upcoming topics include:
- July: Songwriting Competition
- August: Flash Fiction Competition
- September: Personal Narrative — The ties that bind
- October: Review — Sound through words
- November: Fiction — Write another life
- December: Creative Nonfiction — Looking ahead, looking back
Cost: Free.
Prizes: Winning entrant receives $100. Runner-up and best peer reviewer are awarded $50. All three winners will be featured on their blog.
More info: For a more detailed information about each topic, including deadlines (for draft and final submissions) and prizes, head to the Write the World website.
2. 2019 Toolangi CJ Dennis Poetry Competition
The brief: The CJ Dennis Poetry Competition seeks to celebrate the work of CJ Dennis and relate to an Australian subject. Enter a poem with a good rhyme and metre, or a short story up to 500 words.
Categories and prizes: Primary school students: preps to grade 6 (first price $30, second prize $20 third prize $10; Secondary school students: years 7-12 (first prize $50, second prize $30, third prize $20). There is also a category for adults entering.
Cost: free to student entries and $10 per adult entry, plus $3 in stamps.
Closing date: 7 September 2019.
More information: Download the submission guidelines and entry form.
3. Red Room Poetry: Poetry Object
Poetry Object aims to ignite imaginations by inviting young writers (Years 3-10) and their teachers to create poems inspired by treasured, curious or talismanic objects.
The brief: Create poems of no more than 20 lines, that are in some way inspired by a curious, special or talismanic object. You can explore Red Room Poetry’s curriculum-aligned learning resource for stimulus activities, examples of special object poems, and editing guides to spark inspiration and help develop your poem.
Open to: young people (Years 3-10) and their teachers, across Australia and New Zealand. All types of mainstream schooling systems are eligible to register, as well as home schools, GAT programs, special needs groups, alternative education and individual young writers.
Categories: There are three age categories for prizes: primary, secondary and teacher. In each category, several prizes will be awarded (first place, highly commended, etc.). There is also a multimedia installation category, open to classes or groups.
Cost: free.
Prizes: a list of prizes totalling over $10,000 can be found on the competition’s prize webpage.
Closing date: Friday 27 September (5pm AEST).
More information: Visit the Red Room Poetry website, where you’ll find learning resources, entry conditions and instructions on how to submit (which includes registering your school).
4. KSP Short Fiction Competition
The brief: Write a short story up to 1,000 words on an open style and theme.
Open to: Australian residents and citizens.
Categories: youth (10 to 17 years); adult (18 and over – the word limit for the adult category is 2,500)
Cost: free for the youth category.
Prizes: First place $300 prize for open plus weekend residency at the KSP Writers’ Centre (non-transferable, $300 value) and $100 first place prize for youth; Second place certificates with $150 prize for open and $50 for youth; Up to five commended certificates for both open and youth; Mundaring National Young Writers encouragement award for under 14s with $25 prize; Select entrants invited to read their story at KSP’s End of Year Awards Ceremony.
Closing date: Friday 27 September 2019.
More information: visit the KSP Writers’ Centre Competition page, where you will find submission guidelines and instructions on how to submit your entry.
5. Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing 2019
The brief: Write a short story up to 2,500 words or a poem up to 60 lines. All genres of crime writing are eligible, from hard-boiled to comic, paranormal to rural, historical to contemporary, noir to cosy.
Open to: all Australian residents.
Categories: There are six awards on offer for crime writers, with one of these being specifically for youth (The Youth Award for writers under 18). There is also an The Emerging Authors Award for the best entry in any category from new, unpublished writers over 18 only.
Cost: $10 for adults, $5 for youth
Prizes: The Youth Award has a first prize of $150. The Emerging Authors Award has a first prize of $250.
Closing date: Monday 7 October 2019.
More information: visit the New England Writers’ Centre website.
6. KSP Poetry Awards
The brief: Write a poem up to 50 lines in length.
Open to: Australian residents and citizens.
Categories: Youth KSP Poetry Awards (10 to 17 years); Open KSP Poetry Awards (18 years plus); Annette Cameron Encouragement Award (open to WA residents over 18 who have never had a poem published before.).
Cost: free for the youth category.
Prizes: First place $300 prize for open plus weekend residency at the KSP Writers’ Centre (non-transferable, $300 value) and $100 first place prize for youth; Second place certificates with $150 prize for open and $50 for youth; Up to five commended certificates for both open and youth; First place $100 prize for Annette Cameron Encouragement Award for an unpublished WA poet; Up to three commended certificates for Annette Cameron Encouragement Award;
Mundaring National Young Writers encourgement award for under 14s with $25 prize; Select entrants invited to read their story at KSP’s End of Year Awards Ceremony.
Closing date: Friday 11 October 2019.
More information: visit the KSP Writers’ Centre Competition page, where you will find submission guidelines and instructions on how to submit your entry.
7. Kids News Short Story Competition
The brief: Write a short story on any topic of your choice, or use the Story Starters ideas list on the competition page for inspiration. For entrants aged 11 years and over, your short story must be between 500 and 1000 words. For entrants aged 10 and under, your short story must be between 250 and 750 words.
Open to: Australian students from Prep to Year 8.
Categories: there are two categories – one for children 10 and under and another for 11 and over.
Entry fee: free.
Prizes: an iPad, HarperCollins book pack and your story published as a book for 10 family members and friends.
Closing date: Thursday 31 October 2019.
More information: head to the Kids News website.
8. Somerset National Poetry Prize
The brief: Submit an original poem of no more than 50 lines excluding the title, on any subject. The poem must be unpublished (also not published online) and not have won a prize previously.
Open to: all current secondary students who are Australian citizens or permanent residents attending school in Australia. Students receiving home schooling are eligible to enter.
Categories: Junior Secondary – Years 7 to 9; Senior Secondary – Years 10 to 12
Cost: $15
Prizes: One winner will be selected from each category and at the discretion of the Judges, up to five short-listed highly commended runners up will be selected. The winner in each category will receive $300 plus flights to attend the Somerset Storyfest (18 to 20 March 2020).
Closing date: Friday 6 December 2019.
More information: visit the Somerset Storyfest website.
9. Somerset National Novella Writing Competition
The brief: Submit a novella no less than 8,000 words and no more than 20,000 words. Please note that this word limit has been reduced from previous years.
Open to: all current secondary students attending school in Australia. Students receiving home schooling are eligible to enter. Entrants must be under 19 years of age as at date of close of entries on 6 December 2019.
Cost: $20.00
Prizes: State Finalists will be selected: Queensland, New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, Victoria/Tasmania, South Australia/Northern Territory and Western Australia. State winners will have the opportunity to attend Somerset Storyfest, be billeted by students of the Somerset Wordsmiths’ Club, and attend the events at the Somerset Storyfest over the three days, where the National winner will be announced. There will be monetary prizes awarded to all State winners and one prize of $2,500 will be awarded to the National winner.
Closing date: Friday 6 December 2019.
More information: visit the Somerset Storyfest website.
Over to You
Just a quick note: if you do enter a competition, take time to read the guidelines carefully to ensure you’re entry meets the requirements, so that it’s accepted. This can include seemingly minor details such as size, font and spacing of your text.
If you’d like some guidance on what to look out for, then take a look at an earlier post of mine, Writing Competitions: What You Need to Know Before Entering.
What are you waiting for? Start writing, keep writing – and let me know how you go!
