Competitions to get your students writing

We’re all familiar with school sports carnivals but how familiar are you with writing competitions? This guest post by author Melinda Tognini discusses writing competitions for young people. It is a great resource for teachers who have talented young writers in their classrooms. A downloadable poster is also available.

Do you have a passion for writing? Perhaps you’ve just begun to explore the world of your imagination and need encouragement to develop some of those ideas. Or maybe you’ve been scribbling down stories and poems for ages, but aren’t sure what to do with them all now.

While there is a lot more to the writing and editing process than smashing out a draft and sending it straight to a competition or publisher, there are plenty of opportunities out there if you know where to look. To that end, I’ve been searching out and collating competitions for young writers in Australia between August and December 2017.

Trudy Graham/Julie Lewis Literary Award
The brief: Submit prose up to 2,000 words on any theme.
Open to: Youth category (12–17 years) is open to anyone residing in Australia.
Closing date: 11 August 2017
More info:Visit the Peter Cowan Writers Centre competitions page.

FAW Hilarie Lindsay Young Writers Short Story Competition for Australian School Children
The brief: Write a short story up to 1,500 words (up to Year 6) or up to 2,500 words (for Years 7– 12).
Open to: Australian schoolchildren.
Closing date: 31 August 2017
More info: Visit Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) NSW.

KSP Short Fiction Competition
The brief: Write a short story on any theme up to 2,000 words (youth category) or up to 2,500 words (adult category).
Open to: Australian residents and citizens.
Closing date: 1 September 2017
More info: Visit the KSP Writers’ Centre competitions page.

OutStanding LGBTIQ Short Story Competition
The brief: Write a short story up to 750 words on the theme ‘It’s Complicated’. Stories should have relevance to the broader Australian or New Zealand LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer) community.
Open to: Writers based in Australia and New Zealand.
Closing date: 1 September 2017
More Info: Visit the OutStanding website.

The West Australian Junior Journo Competition
The brief: Create one of the following:
– Keep Watch: Write a Q&A about a young person achieving at 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 that 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 facts.
– Mind Games: Create three puzzles, including one crossword.
Open to: Western Australian students in Years 3–6.
Closing date: 8 September 2017
More info: Visit The West Australian’s website.

The Scribe Nonfiction Prize
The brief: Submit a piece of writing between 5,000 and 10,000 words, in any non-fiction genre including memoir, journalism, essay, biography and creative nonfiction.
Open to: Residents of Australia aged 30 or under.
Closing date: 10 September 2017
More info: Visit the Express Media website.

KSP Memoir Competition
The brief: Write on the theme ‘A Day in …’ (enter your hometown or WA holiday location) up to 500 words.
Open to: Youth section (10–18 years) is open to Western Australian residents.
Closing date: 15 September 2017
More info: Visit the KSP Writers’ Centre competitions page.

ABC Heywire Competition
The brief: Tell a story about what it’s like to live outside the major cities in Australia.
Open to: Regional Australians aged 16–22 years who reside outside Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide or Perth.
Closing date: 16 September 2017
More info: Visit the ABC Heywire website.

Patrick White Indigenous Writing Competition
The brief: Create a poem, short story or play up to 1,500 words with the theme ‘The wild’ or ‘Then I heard the loudest noise …’ or ‘What now?’.
Open to: Indigenous students in NSW schools.
Closing date: 22 September 2017
More info: Visit the Aboriginal Education Council (NSW) website.

KSP Poetry Competition
The brief: Write a poem up to 50 lines.
Open to: Youth section (10–18 years) is open to Western Australian residents.
Closing date: 29 September 2017
More info: Visit KSP Writers’ Centre competitions page.

The Wonderful Whale Haiku Competition
The brief: Write a traditional haiku about whales.
Open to: Students of primary school age.
Closing date: 30 September 2017
More info: Visit Sarah Brennan’s Clever Competitions.

Redgum Young Writers Award
The brief: Create a children’s picture book of up to 250 words or a short story of 850–1000 words.
Open to: Schoolchildren aged 9–13 years.
Closing date: 10 December 2017
More info: Visit the Young Writers Award.

You can download a handy poster with all competition information here.

So, what have you been writing and where will you send it? Over to you!

Melinda Tognini is the author of Many Hearts, One Voice: The story of the War Widows’ Guild in Western Australia.