Writing Opportunities for Children and Young People
Writing Opportunities For Children and Young People
⭐ Lowry Creative Writing Challenge
The Creative Writing challenge is a great opportunity for children to express themselves by entering a piece of work they have made in hopes of performing their work on the Iconic Quays Stage! Children can enter: poetry (including spoken word, limericks & rap), a script/play text including solo or group performance, plays for stage and radio, or short stories. The challenge is open to children aged 7-11 living in North West.
⭐ The Julia & Martin Wilson Short Story Prize
Broadway Arts Festival launched a short story prize in order to encourage creativity during the lockdown. The prize is generously sponsored and judged by festival Benefactors Julia & Martin Wilson who read every entry received, from across the world. The competition now takes place every other year. Entries need to be a maximum of 2,000 words with no theme to adhere to. There is a prize of £100 for both the 10 and under, and 11-16yrs age categories.
⭐ Taradiddle Young Writer Contests
Write original stories inspired by the Taradiddle animal-themed writing prompts for a chance to win a cash prize and become a published author on Taradiddle.org! There are three age categories: 12 years or younger, 13-15 years, and 16-18 years. Enter under the age category you will be at the time of the contest.
A national writing competition celebrating curiosity, critical thinking and outstanding science writing by students aged 14–16. Essays must be between 720 and 880 words. There are prizes for the winner, runners-up, and highly commended entries.
⭐ The Young Songwriter Competition
The Young Songwriter competition is the world’s leading songwriting competition for young aspiring songwriters, aged 8-22, to get their songs heard by leaders in the industry & connect to a talented community of young songwriters across the world – both aspiring young songwriters who already have some experience, and those writing their first song! There are four age categories for UK entrants: 8-12, 13-15, 16-18, and 19-22. You can enter up to 5 individual songs and up to 5 songs written as a group. To enter you’ll need to submit an mp3 audio recording and your lyrics for each song.
⭐ The BBC Young Writers' Award
The BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University is open to writers between the ages of 14-18 years. All you need to do is write a story of up to 1,000 words – no theme, no subject: as long as it’s a story and your own work, you can submit it. There will be prizes for the writers of five shortlisted stories and one overall winner.
⭐ The Portico Sadie Massey Awards
There are three competitions for Young Readers & Writers aged 7-18 years: 'PSMA Short Story Competition' - stories must be set in the North of England, 'PSMA Book Review Competition' - review of any book, fact, fiction, poetry or graphic novel, and 'Portico Art of the Book Award' - open to Pupil Referral Units & schools and departments with Special Educational Needs in Greater Manchester.
⭐ Girton College Humanities Writing Competition
This is an opportunity for students in Year 12 or equivalent to research and write beyond the curriculum, using one or more of five selected objects from the Lawrence Room museum objects, as their focus. Essays or creative responses (such as dramatic monologues, short stories or poems) are equally welcome.
⭐ The ISA Handwriting Competition
This competition celebrates the visual art of handwriting. In an age that encourages the early adoption of keyboard skills, we wish to champion, nurture, and celebrate writing by hand. Open to Year 1 to Year 13. Competitions are only open to ISA Members' schools and can only be made by a member of staff.
Far more than just a prize, the Orwell Youth Prize provides free feedback and online resources to support all young writers on every step of your writing journey. Write about your world, in any form you choose, and get personalised feedback and the chance to win a cash prize and books for you and your school. The Prize is open to anyone in years 7-13 who is at school or college in the United Kingdom, the word limit is 1000 words if you’re in school years 7-11, and 1500 words for school years 12-13.. This year's Prize is open for entries on the theme of 'Truth'.
The Young Playwrights Award is a free, open-access competition for anyone aged 13-18 in the UK interested in writing a play. Entries should be between 1,000 – 5,000 words.
⭐ Pitch Magazine's Young Sports Journalist Competition
Pitch magazine is seeking well-argued articles from aspiring journalists. The competition is open to young people aged between 14-21, attending school or college in the UK. Entries must be a minimum of 700 words and no more than 800 words. You must answer one of the questions in your age group. Winning entries will be published online and in print.
⭐ Royal Mint Museum’s Short Story Competition
The competition is open to children aged 7 to 11. Students are invited to submit a story of no more than 500 words based on Gold. From buried treasure to secret vaults filled with gold bars and coin hoards, we are asking students to engage their imagination and write about glistening gold. The winner will receive a gold coin, £5,000 for their school or local library, and their story illustrated by an artist.
The Author of Tomorrow Award is designed to find the adventure writers of the future. It is an annual competition open to young people across the world who have completed a short piece of adventure writing in English. Prizes are awarded in three age categories: 11 and Under (up to 500 words, £100 prize, plus £150 book tokens for your school), 12-15 years (1,000 - 2,000 words, £250 prize, plus £150 book tokens for your school), and 16-21 years (1,500 - 3,000 words, £1,000 prize). Ten shortlisted authors will have their work digitally published online.
⭐ Goldsmiths University of London
Goldsmiths University of London have a series of Young Writer Competitions for young people aged 16-18 which aim to uncover the next generation of writing talent. You can enter any or all of the three creative competitions: Young Writer, Young Anthropologist, or new for 2026 - Young Podcaster. All competitions have a £500 first prize and runner-up prizes of £100. All shortlisted entries will also receive a small prize.
⭐ Quay Words Young Writers' Flash Fiction Competition
The competition is open to entrants aged between 10 and 18-years. Send your Flash Fiction, 250 or 500-word story on the theme of ‘Between the Lines.’ There are two age categories – 10-14 years and 14-18 years – with cash prizes in each category of £200, £100 and £50, plus the chance to be published and to perform your work at Exeter Custom House. They're looking for inventive stories, with a maximum word count of 500 words in the 10-14 year age-category and 250 words in the 14-18 year age-category.
⭐ The Poetry of Science Competition
As part of IF Oxford, the annual science and ideas Festival from Oxford, young poets are invited to explore the wonders of science through verse. There are three age categories: under 7 years old, 8–11 years old, and 12–16 years old. Submissions should be in the form of a short poem on any scientific topic, using any poetry style. Wining poems will be selected for each age category, with exciting prizes up for grabs. Winning entries and runners-up will be published in the anthology and online, and selected poems will be performed at a special IF Oxford celebratory event during the Festival in October 2026.
⭐ D.H. Lawrence Children's Prize: Writing Competition
Submit your short stories, poems and non-fiction pieces for a chance to win a kindle and national book tokens. SAVE THE DATE: the competition will launch on World Book Day, 5 March 2026.
⭐ The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition
The competition aims to find and encourage writers of the future, something Henrietta was always keen to do. Anyone under the age of 19 can enter. The judges are looking for stories, poems or song lyrics set in places you love, or inspired by people you know very well. The winners will receive signed copies of each of the books shortlisted for the 2026 Branford Boase Award.