Writing competitions

23 Aug 2016

Have you been working on a story you think is pretty awesome? Perhaps you’d like to submit it and test your chances in the crazy world of writing competitions. Here are a few that have come to our attention of late.

If you want to enter into anything, don’t forget that you can run it by our Pen Pal Program editors first and get a tactical advantage! Just send your writing through to us via email and we’ll get it back to you with feedback within a week.

Red Room Poetry Object poetry writing competition
Writers: Students in grades 3-10 and their teachers
Deadline: September 23
Theme: Special ‘talismanic objects’
Anything else? Register your school and check out the Red Room Company’s Creative Learning Resources here. You can also visit the Poetry Object Library to discover past student and teacher poems.
Where do I enter? Right here.

Patrick White Indigenous Writers Award
Writers: Indigenous students, Kindergarten to Year 12
Deadline: September 23
Theme (choice of three): “Things are not always what they seem…”, “Dreaming”, “Standing on one leg…”
Anything else? It can be a story, poem or play, and there is a group category if you want to collaborate with your classmates. Also, our own Cath Keenan is a judge.
Where do I enter? Right here.

EPIC! Short Story Competition
Writers: Year 3 to Year 12 students
Deadline: September 30 (competition opens on the first day of Term 3)
Theme: “Friendship”
Anything else? Stories up to 300 words.
Where do I enter? Right here.

Somerset National Novella Writing Competition
Writers: High school students
Deadline: December 2
Theme: No theme
Anything else? Stories between 8,000-20,000 words. There’s also a $20 entry fee, but the competition has pretty large cash prizes ($2,500 for the overall winner, plus state prizes) and writing advice from Penguin Random House Australia.
Where do I enter? Right here.