Competitions
Below is a list of annual competitions that are free to enter.
March
Hong Kong Budding Poets Award: This year's categories are festival, folklore, and culture.
Age Range: Grades 1-6 and 7-12. entries are submitted by a teacher.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Poetry
History: 10 students have been published
Entries are due on 6 March 2025
Write the World: Songwriting Competition 2025: We play music at weddings and funerals, at coronations and political rallies, in headphones and over speakers. In films, music can build suspense or resolve the moment; at night, music can lull us to sleep. “ANYTHING can be a song seed,” writes former Guest Judge Avanti Nagral. So, dear writers, will you devise a melancholy melody or an electrifying tune that makes us want to dance? Whichever you choose, write a song of your own—and record it if you’d like! This month, we’ll select two winners, one for best lyrics and another for best performance.
Word Limits: 50-500 words
Competition Opens: March 3
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 24 March 2025
Student Story Slam: We are thrilled to confirm the 6th edition of our storytelling competition for secondary school students in Hong Kong.
This competition offers students a public speaking experience to build their presentation skills and boost creativity.
The event will be held in English, but students will be judged on their story not their English proficiency. Read about the experience of the 2024 winners in the SCMP Young Post.
This year's theme is Snapshots.
You're free to interpret the theme creatively. Search your memories for stories that show us a snapshot of you.
Let yourself get inspired by moments you wish to relive, a place or a friendship dear to you, or even embarrassing moments unwittingly snapshotted in your memories.
Age Range: For Grades 7-12.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Personal Narrative
History: None
Entries are due on 30 March 2025
Parsec Short Story Contest: Roots. The point of origin, the source of life. Buried in earth and history, they are links to the unseen. Roots can crack stone and carry messages; they can bind us to solid ground or trip us up and send us sprawling. The 2025 Parsec Short Story Contest welcomes science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories that include all types of roots: family legends, genetic inheritance, plant-like aliens, root directories, symbiotic mycorrhizal systems . . . you get the idea.
Convey the theme through setting, plot, characters, and dialogue; the only limit is your imagination. The theme must be integral to the story in some way and not just mentioned in passing.
Age Range: Grades 7-12.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror
History: None
Entries are due on 31 March 2025
April
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest: Now in its 24th year, this contest seeks today's best humor poems. No fee to enter. Submit published or unpublished work. $3,750 in prizes.
Age Range: For all ages.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 1 April 2025
Princeton University 10-Minute Play Contest: Eligibility for this annual playwriting contest is limited to students in the eleventh grade in the U.S. (or international equivalent of the eleventh grade). Each year a guest playwright serves as contest judge. Acclaimed playwrights Anya Pearson, Jiehae Park, Dipika Guha, and others have judged the contest in recent years.
Age Range: For Grade 11 students.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Script
History: None
Entries are due on 1 April 2025
The Classical Association Poetry Competition: Our judges are looking for writers of all ages to get involved and be inspired by the ancient world.
Age Range: For ages 6-11, 12-18, and 19+.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 5 April 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
Create a Picture Book: The competition categories include Young Creators (4-7 years); Primary (7-11 years); and Secondary (11+ years). Prizes include £200 of books for each of the winning schools, plus a book bundle for the individual creators. The overall winner will receive a free online author event for their school.
Age Range: For ages 4-7, 7-11, and 11-18.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Picture Books
History: None
Entries are due on 19 April 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
Write the World: Poetry & Spoken Word: “Poetry lays the foundations for a future of change," wrote Audrey Lorde. From the lines of Langston Hughes ushering in the Harlem Renaissance to women in modern-day Afghanistan bravely sharing their poems over social media, to spoken word artists calling for change, poetry has long celebrated the right to self-expression and the power of advocacy. This month, sow your own seeds of change into stanzas, meter, or free verse, or else write and perform an original piece of spoken word (poetry performed aloud). We’ll award two top prizes—one for a written poem, and one for a recorded performance.
Word Limits: 50-500 words
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**):
Competition Opens: April 7
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on April 28
Author of Tomorrow: The Author of Tomorrow Award is designed to find the adventure writers of the future. Part of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, it is an annual competition open to young people across the world who have completed a short piece of adventure writing in English.
Age Range: For ages 6-21.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Adventure
History: None
Entries are due on April 30
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Good People Good Deeds: The Competition provides young writers with a platform to explore the world of writing, to stretch their imagination; and most importantly, to infuse positive energy into society, thus fostering social cohesion and promoting care, mutual help and solidarity in the local community. Students may write how a person can make a difference simply by showing love, appreciation and kindness to people around them.
Age Range: Grades 4-6, 7-9, 10-12.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Personal Narrative
History: None
Entries are due on April 30
May
The World Historian Student Essay Competition: The World Historian Student Essay Competition is an international competition open to students enrolled in grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools, and those in home-study programs. Membership in the World History Association is not a requirement for submission. Past winners may not compete in the same category again. Finalist essays will be checked against AI internet components and will be automatically disqualified should stock answers be detected.
The World History Association established this $500 prize to recognize young scholars. A one-year membership in the WHA will also be included with each prize.
Each competitor will submit an essay that addresses one of the following topics and discuss how it relates to you personally and to World History: Your view of a family story related to a historical event or your personal family cultural background, or an issue of personal relevance or specific regional history/knowledge, such as "My ancestor walked with Abraham Lincoln from Illinois to fight in the Black Hawk War of 1832."
Age Range: For Grades 1-12.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Creative Nonfiction
History: None
Entries are due 1 May 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
Write the World: Environmental Writing Competition 2025: “What will / our daughter / be able / to plant / in this / paradise of / fugitive dust,” wrote poet and former Guest Judge Craig Santos Perez. The planet may be in crisis, dear writers, but we must consider what we want to plant. Will we sow seeds of change? Or will we use our roots to hold strong to the earth? This month, hold in mind both the despair and hope, the dust and paradise. Then write a reflection about your own environment, close to home.
Word Limits: 400-1000 words
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**):
Competition Opens: May 5
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Creative Nonfiction
History: None
Entries are due May 26.
June
John Estay Student Writing Competition:
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin is a trailblazing science fiction novel published in 1969. It’s the story of a human ambassador sent to a planet whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. While his mission is to broker a deal that will usher the planet into an intergalactic collective, he cannot reconcile his personal beliefs with their culture. The Left Hand of Darkness is recommended for ages 14-18.
This prompt is a quote from Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and can be used as a first line, a last line, a jumping-off point, an inspiration for your students’ work. They can use the entire quote or portions of it to write a fiction or nonfiction story, poem, song, scene, short monologue or other form of writing. Submissions should be 1,000 words or less regardless of format.
Age Range: For Grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, entries are submitted by a teacher.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Song, Scene, or Monologue
History: None
Entries are due 6 June 2025
2025 Ocean Awareness Contest: The 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest – Connections to Nature: Looking Inside, Going Outside – encourages you to explore the natural world and your place in it. We invite you to think about your unique connection to nature and how being outside makes you feel. There are so many different ways that you can connect to nature, whether that’s exploring the history of the land you live on, volunteering in the fight against climate change, or taking a restorative walk in your local park. Go through the sub-themes and explore the topics that resonate with you. Share your relationship with the natural world through art, writing, performance, film, or multimedia. What is your connection to nature?
Age Range: For ages 11-14 and 15-18.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Visual Art: Handcrafted, Visual Art: Digital, Poetry & Spoken Word, Creative Writing, Film, Performing Arts: Music & Dance, Interactive & Multimedia
History: None
Entries are due 9 June 2025
Write the World: Personal Essay 2025: "Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” wrote author Chinua Achebe. In other words: every story has multiple sides, and it’s immensely important that yours is told. This month, dear writers, invite us into your world, rich with characters and description. And remember, “the secret argument of many essays is that something small can explain something very large,” said former Guest Judge James Marcus. “A stubbed toe, a luminous cloud, a fight with a friend.”
Word Limits: 400-1,000 words
Competition Opens: June 2
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): June 9
Final Entries Due: June 23
Age Range: For ages 11-14, 15-18.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Personal Narrative
History: None
Entries are due 23 June 2025
Grist: Imagine 2200 Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors: Grist is excited to open submissions for the fourth year of our Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest.
Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world. We dare you to dream anew. [Get Imagine updates: Sign up for our email list]
Imagine 2200 celebrates stories that envision the next decades to centuries of equitable climate progress, imagining futures of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope. We are looking for stories that are rooted in creative climate solutions and community-centered resilience, showing what can happen as solutions take root, and stories that offer gripping plots with rich characters and settings, making that future come alive.
In 2,500 to 5,000 words, show us the world you dream of building.
Your story should be set sometime between the near future and roughly the year 2200.
A great Imagine story is not afraid to explore the challenges ahead — the path to climate progress will involve struggle and adaptation, and we invite you to show that — but ultimately offers hope that we can work together to build a more sustainable and just world. We want to see stories that incorporate real world climate solutions and climate science, as well as cultural authenticity (a deep sense of place, customs, cuisine, and more) and characters with fully-fledged identities. We especially want to read — and share — stories that center solutions and voices from the communities most impacted by the climate crisis.
If you’re newer to climate, below this prompt we’ve included some resources to get you started in finding inspiration from existing solutions. Feel free to use these as a jumping off point, or to bring in any climate and justice solutions you find inspiring.
Your story can bring these principles into any genre — we love seeing climate themes show up in love stories, mysteries, adventure, comedy, and more. Climate connects to every part of life, and all sorts of stories can be climate stories, so dream big — envision a world where climate solutions have flourished, and where we prioritize our well-being, work to mend our communities, and lead lives that celebrate our humanity. We can’t wait to read what you come up with.
Age Range: For all ages.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 24 June 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
The Standard 8th Story Writing Competition: The Standard is organising the 8th Story Writing Competition to encourage Hong Kong primary schools students to compose imaginative stories. While developing their creativity at a young age, students will also increase their confidence in expressing themselves and also improve their English writing skills at the same time.
Students can enter either the junior (P1-P3 / G1-G3) group or the senior (P4 – P6 / G4-G6) group to win an award. Junior students are required to draw a picture of the climax of the story with a descriptive paragraph to express their creative idea based on one of the four categories (see below). Senior students have to write a story based on one of the Seven Plots of Fiction.
Awards will be given to individuals who write the best stories in terms of writing quality and completeness, and who draw the best pictures in terms of creativity. Well-written stories and creative drawings may also be published in Goodies and Junior Standard.
Age Range: For Hong Kong students in Grades 1-3 and 4-6, entries are submitted by a teacher.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 30 June 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
The Standard 12th English Writing Competition: Students tackle one of the four preset questions by following the requirements of each question. The students must decide which question they are going to answer and submit it within the time period as shown below. They can also submit more than one entry throughout the Competition.
Age Range: For Hong Kong students in Grades 7-12, entries are submitted by a teacher.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Fiction
History: 9 students have won awards
Entries are due 30 June 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
July
H. G. Wells Short Story Competition: The annual HG Wells Fiction Short Story Competition offers a £500 Senior and £1,000 Junior prize and free publication of all shortlisted entries in a quality, professionally published paperback anthology.
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Theme: The Middle Ground
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Entries must be in English.
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The length is 1,500 to 5,000 words.
Age Range: For ages 11-21
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 8 July 2025
Write the World: Journalism Competition: Global correspondents bring the world to our doorstep. From the invasion of Ukraine, to the flooding in Himachal Pradesh, we come to understand what’s happening around the globe through the important and courageous work of these journalists. But news happens everywhere, dear writers… including at your own doorstep! What are the most important issues taking place close to home? Perhaps a rare bird sighting in the nature preserve near your town? Or a band of young people in your province fighting for access to higher education? This month, immerse yourself in a newsworthy event inside the borders of your own country, and invite us there through your written reporting.
Word Limits: 500-1000 words
Competition Opens: Monday, July 1
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): By Monday, July 8
Final Entries Due: Monday, July 22
Age Range: For ages 11-14, 15-18.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Article
History: None
Entries are due 22 July 2025
Briefly Write Poetry Prize: The Briefly Write Poetry Prize celebrates and rewards bold, succinct writing. We want well-crafted poems up to 10 lines. We want innovative language, strong imagery and a subtle, focused composition. Send us your best brief writing.
Age Range: For all ages
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due 30 June 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry: The Morrab Library has partnered with the Dennis Myner Trust for the second Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry. The children’s competition is open to entries from young writers all over the world and has two age categories – aged 4 to 11 and 12 to 17. It is free to enter and does not have a theme, to allow you to express your creativity freely and let your imagination run wild! We hope you will enjoy writing poetry this summer!
Age Range: For ages 4-11 and 12-17.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due 19 July 2024 - No announcements for 2025 yet
Write the World: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Competition: This month, you have the extraordinary and exciting task of opening the door to a new world. Perhaps this means revealing a fantastical element hidden within our “reality”—the wardrobe in The Chronicles of Narnia, for example. Perhaps you will dream up an entirely invented world, as in Children of Blood and Bone. Or perhaps you will take readers to the future, dreaming up a reality dramatically changed by technology, the environment, or a new social order. In a fantasy or sci-fi short story, take your readers on a journey into a world of your imagination.
Word Limits: 400-1000 words
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**):
Competition Opens: July 7
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 28 July 2025
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award: The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is one of the biggest and most prestigious poetry competitions for 11-17 year olds in the world. Every year, 15 top winners and 85 commended poets are chosen; together, they represent some of the most exciting new voices writing today.
This year’s judges are the fantastic Colette Bryce and Will Harris, and they can’t wait to read your poems! Find out what the judges are looking for here.
If you’re aged 11-17, send in your poems for the chance to be among the 100 winners and kick-start your writing career. Poems can be on any theme and in any style but must be no longer than forty lines. You can submit as many as you like.
Winners of the award receive a fantastic range of prizes to help develop their writing. The top 15 poets receive a mentoring package with opportunities to receive support and feedback on their writing; and all 100 winners receive a year’s youth membership of The Poetry Society and a bag full of books donated by generous publishers. The Poetry Society continues to support winners throughout their careers providing publication, performance and development opportunities, and access to a paid internship programme.
Age Range: For ages 11-17.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 31 July
August
Write the World: Flash Fiction Competition 2025: “There was more room to think,” wrote novelist David Gaffney on becoming a flash fiction convert, “more space for the original idea to resonate, fewer unnecessary words to wade through.” Stories of the mini or micro variety distill the essence of fiction into small but powerful bursts. Celebrate the art of concision this month, dear writers, and write a story in 100 words or less.
Word Limits: 100 words or less
Competition Opens: Monday, August 4
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): By Monday, August 11
Final Entries Due: Monday, August 25
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 25 August 2025
October
Write the World: Scary Stories 2024: Imagine sitting around a campfire, trees creaking in the wind and a flashlight illuminating your face… What story would you tell? You’d likely be thinking about ghost stories, strange howls in the dark, and urban legends you heard growing up. This month, dear writers, concoct an original spooky tale to put your readers on the edge of their seat. Make sure you leave something to the imagination—often the scariest stories are the ones that leave things unsaid! As filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock once said, “there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
Word Limits: 400-1,000 words
Competition Opens: October 7
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): October 14
Final Entries Due: October 28
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due on 28 October 2024
November
New York Times Tiny Memoir Contest: Placeholder.
Age Range: For Ages 13-19, entries are submitted by a teacher.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Microfiction
History: None
Entries are due 1 November 2023
Bennington College Young Writers Award: Bennington College has given many of our nation’s foremost writers their start. They include twelve Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, and authors of countless New York Times bestsellers. In celebration of this legacy, Bennington launched the Young Writers Awards to promote outstanding writing achievement at the high school level. High school students worldwide are invited to enter.
Age Range: For Grades 9-12, entries can be submitted by a teacher.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
History: None
Entries are due 1 November 2024
Princeton University Poetry Contest for High School Students: The Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade in the U.S. or abroad. Contest judges are poets on the Princeton University creative writing faculty, which includes Michael Dickman, Katie Farris, Ilya Kaminsky, Lynn Melnick, Paul Muldoon, Kathleen Ossip, and Patricia Smith.
Age Range: For Grade 11
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due 10 November 2024
Write the World: Tall Tales 2024: Stories travel across time and space, inspire joy and sadness, and captivate minds around the world. Short stories do all that too—but in just a few pages. “A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick,” writes Neil Gaiman. “A couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.” This month, dear writers, we challenge you to write a short story that takes us around the universe, breaks our hearts, or leads us on any other adventure you can imagine.
Word Limits: 400-1,000 words
Competition Opens: November 4
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): November 11
Final Entries Due: November 25
For ages 13-19.
Entries are due on 25 November 2024
i-Learner Writing Competition: Write a short, descriptive story with the title: My Day at the Beach.
For Grades 1-3.
Entries are due on 30 November 2024
i-Learner Writing Competition: Write a short story about one of the following prompts:
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a pair of siblings who make a discovery in a forest
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Write a story with the opening line 'I had always wondered what was behind the door at the end of the hallway.'
For Grades 4-6.
Entries are due on 30 November 2024
December
One Teen Story: One Teen Story publishes 3 stories a year and accepts submissions from teen writers ages 13-19.
For our One Teen Story contest, we ask writers to enter their original, unpublished fiction. We are interested in great short stories of any genre about the teen experience—literary, fantasy, sci-fi, love stories, horror, etc. What’s in a great short story? Interesting teen characters, strong writing, and a beginning, middle, and end.
Prize
The winning stories will be published in forthcoming issues of One Teen Story, which will reach over ten thousand readers. The contest winners will receive $500 upon publication and 25 copies of the magazine featuring their work. The contest winners will also have the opportunity to work with a One Teen Story editor prior to publication. Honorable mentions will be chosen in three age categories: 13-15, 16-17, and 18-19, and each will be announced on our website, by email announcement, and on social media.
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due 2 December 2025
January
Write the World: People's Choice Awards 2024: This month, the ball is in your court as YOU decide the winner, dear writers! After reading and reviewing each other’s work, you will have the opportunity to vote for your winners. Voting opens Wednesday, January 8th, and will close Wednesday, January 15.
Word Limits: 1-1000
Competition Opens: 2 December
Final Entries Due: 3 January
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 3 January 2025
Hong Kong Young Writers Award: Every year the Hong Kong Young Writers Award chooses a theme from Chinese history. Students are invited to submit poems, story, and non-fiction pieces about the specific theme. In 2025, the theme will be New Tales of China’s Dinosaurs. China has quietly become the global epicenter of fossil-hunting. In the 1990s, a farmer found the world’s very first clearly feathered dinosaur. Scientists called it Sinosauropteryx, which means “the China dragon bird”. Since then, more than 40 dinosaur species have been found in the province of Liaoning, including more than 24 pterosaurs – winged reptiles.
Recently a new species of titanosaur was found in Jiangxi. Because China is less well-explored by paleontologists, there’s much excitement about what will be found next—and what amazing stories the ancient fossils will tell!
Age Range: For Hong Kong students in Grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-11, and 12. All entries must be submitted by a teacher.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
History: Two of our members have been published
Entries are due on 16 January 2025
Hong Kong Literacy Festival Poetry Competition: This year's theme is 'Into the Future'.
Age Range: For Ages 8-15 and 16+.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Poetry
History: One of our members has been published
Entries are due on 26 January 2025
Write the World: Nature & Environmental Poetry 2025: This month, take a few moments to step outside. Examine how the leaves strain against the wind, focus your attention on the ant moving a grain of sand, or consider the grass sprouting from the pavement cracks. Once you’ve regarded the intricacy of the natural world around you, write an original poem about what you know and love from the natural world. You may choose to write about change (like how the forested lot next door is now a parking lot), worries (like the oil sheen in the rain barrel), or celebrations (like the melody of cowbells on a breezy day).
Word Limits: 50-500 words
Competition Opens: January 6
Submit for Expert Review (**NOTE: cap of 50 submissions**): January 13
Age Range: For ages 13-19.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 27 January 2025
February
Bluefire $1,000 for 1000: The $1000 for 1000 Words fiction writing contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 6-12. Each entrant may submit a fiction piece consisting of exactly 1,000 words (not including title or author’s name). The fiction piece can be on any topic, as long as it is not vulgar or offensive, does not use inappropriate profanity, and is the original work of the entrant not previously published. At the discretion of the Foundation, all submissions may be published in the Bluefire journal or on the Foundation website. Entrants retain copyright on his/her own individual work. All entrants must include a completed Entry Form, and must agree to the terms of the Contributor Agreement. Only one entry per person per year will be accepted.
Age Range: Grades 6-8 and 9-12.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Fiction
History: None
Entries are due on 1 February 2025
Holocaust Art & Writing Contest - Every person caught in the net of the Holocaust carried with them something of personal value whether it was carried in one’s hand or one’s heart. What each person chose tells us something about them as individuals, about what mattered to them, and perhaps about what they thought might be a source of strength for survival. Their choices also challenge us to think about who we are and about what matters to us.
Age Range: Grades 6-8 and 9-12.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Art, Film, Poetry, Prose
History: None
Entries are due on 5 February 2025
The Wharf Hong Kong Secondary School Art Competition: To promote art and stimulate the creativity of local secondary school students, the Competition encourages young talents to step out of the classroom and broaden their horizons.
This edition of the Competition is supported by Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA).
Apart from entries of Painting, this year’s Competition will also accept entries of Digital Graphics to offer students a wider range of platforms to showcase their skillset and creativity through different mediums.
Age Range: Grades 7-12.
Location: Hong Kong
Genres: Painting, Digital Art
History: None
Entries are due on ?
Website
Elmridge Literary Competition: Whether winding through the great cities of the world, or meandering across quiet country landscapes, Rivers have always fascinated writers and poets. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Death of RC Sherriff and the Anniversary of the publication of ‘Three Men In A Boat’, The 20th Elmbridge Literary Competition is looking for short stories and poems on the theme of ‘The River’.
Rivers flow through literature, whether as tributaries representing the journey through life, or as passage to the Underworld. They have served as home to Mr Toad and friends, the lair of goat-eating trolls and have been there to mess about on, as Huckleberry Finn or the three men in Jerome K Jerome’s classic story can attest. Today they are at the heart of the environmental debate. RC Sherriff, the author of ‘Journey’s End’, spent many hours on the river. A memorial to his passion for rowing, The Rowing Eight, still stands on the banks of The River Thames.
Age Range: For ages 5-7, 8-11, 11-13, 14-18, and adults.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry, Fiction
History: None
Entries are due on 24 February 2025
The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition: The Chaucer Heritage Trust was founded in 1992 and aims to further interest, understanding and appreciation of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, his life and times, and influence. The Chaucer Heritage Trust has launched its eighth annual writing competition for schools inspired by the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, considered by many England’s greatest medieval poet.
The special theme of the competition this year is ‘Surprise, Surprise!’.
Choose ONE of the following:
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Write a poem or story about a surprise.
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Write a poem or story with a twist in the tail.
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Write a description of a character who was not what they appeared to be.
Age Range: For ages 5-10, 11-14, and 15-18.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry, Fiction
History: None
Entries are due on 28 February 2025
Honest Holiday Haiku Contest: The holidays are a time of glad tidings and good cheer and, if we're honest, some not-so-glad tidings as well. We invite you to write your most honest holiday haiku in the spirit of Scrooge, Santa, and everything in between. Use this space to vent about the itchy socks your great-aunt insists on gifting you each year or wax poetic about a Valentine's Day mishap. A reminder: a haiku consists of five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five in the third line. The writer of the most honest holiday haiku will receive a Gotham class of their choosing.
Age Range: For all ages
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry
History: None
Entries are due on 28 February 2025
How Does War Affect People's Lives?: We want to learn from you about the individuals and communities affected by war. What’s a story that needs to be told? Is there a certain person that has inspired you? What are some of the impacts of war that people might not consider? Share your thoughts using poetry, art, speech and song! You can enter each category once! Cash and voucher prizes, and the winning school will be awarded with an online author's visit.
Age Range: Ages 9-18, students under 15 years old must be submitted by an adult.
Location: Worldwide
Genres: Poetry, Art, Speech, and Song
History: None
Entries are due on 28 February 2025