Children’s Writing Competitions

Writing competitions for children and teens

Please note that many previous annual competitions were or are being affected by the recession, cost of living crisis or government funding cuts. This is beyond our control.

Closing date in June

• Sally Doherty’s Publishing Competition for Kids invites 8-12-year-olds to write a four-line Halloween-themed spell poem in the style of the Toby Bean trilogy, with the second and fourth lines rhyming. Entries are free and should be emailed to the address on the competition details page; the top four poems will be published in the Halloween-themed Toby Bean book.
• Scribblebibble’s annual writing competition invites 7-18-year-olds to submit up to 500-word pieces of fiction or nonfiction based on a variety of writing prompts. There are prizes for the winners, and the competition is open to children and teens worldwide.
• CovLitFest Children’s Poetry Competition invites children in Reception to Year 11 from Coventry and CV postcode areas to write a poem of no more than 20 lines on the theme of Coventry. There are three age categories and book-token prizes for each category.
• Martha Mills Young Writers’ Prize invites 11-14-year-olds living in the UK to enter prose of 500 words or fewer on the 2026 theme, An Unlikely Friend. Poems are not accepted. There are cash prizes and books for three winners; entries close on Friday 26 June.
• BCC Young Entrepreneurs, run by First News, invites young entrepreneurs aged 5-15 to write up to 200 words about their business idea or innovation. There are four categories to pick from, and prizes include a trip to the British Chambers of Commerce’s Global Annual Conference.
• The Wells Festival of Literature Young Poets Competition is open to poets aged 16-22. Entrants can submit up to three poems for a fee of £3 per poem; the 2026 competition opens on 1 April and closes on 31 July.
• Cambridge University and SATIPS handwriting competition.
• Atom Learning’s Young Author Award is a UK creative writing competition for children aged 7-11. The 2025 award asked children to write up to 500 words on the theme Falling Into The Story, with a one-night family trip to Disneyland Paris for the winner. The published page states that the 2025 competition is now closed.

Closing date in July

• Young & Talented Cornwall invites 16-23-year-old residents of Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly who ‘aspire to see your work in print, on stage or on screen‘ to enter a personal statement and sample of work – both of up to 500 words – in this creative writing award scheme ‘to help budding Cornish writers‘. Grants of up to £1000 are available, together with a reading award of up to £150 worth of books.
• The Estelle Prize for English, run by Queens’ College Cambridge, is open to Year 12 pupils in England and Wales, S5 pupils in Scotland and Year 13 pupils in Northern Ireland. Entrants submit an English essay of no more than 2,500 words in response to one of the set questions. The 2026 deadline is 3rd July.
• Write on Art, run by Art UK and the Paul Mellon Centre, is a national writing programme for young people aged 13-19. Entrants write about an artwork on Art UK in one of three categories: creative writing, review or essay. Younger writers can submit up to 400 words and older writers up to 600 words. The 2026 deadline is 21st July.
• Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival Children’s Writing Competition invites children to write a story or poem inspired by a favourite book. The 2026 competition has categories for ages 5-8, 9-11 and 12-13, with school-library book prizes available.
• The Laurie Lee Prize for Writing offers a young person’s category for those who either live in Gloucestershire or were born in Gloucestershire.  16–20-year-olds  can enter up to 2500 words or up to 125 lines of poetry on “a nature or conservation theme”. More details are on the competition website.
• Stories of the Future creative challenge. What does the future hold for young people around the world? asks this international competition run by Earth4All. With three categories: 15 and under, 16-18 and 19-21, students can enter writing up to 800 words or videos of up to 1.5 minutes. Full details are on the competition website. There are free resources and posters for schools.
• The Young Wild Writers competition, run by Hen Harrier Action invites children aged 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 to enter stories, poems, articles, prose or letters of up to 500 words on the theme of Human Impact. Prizes include book vouchers and an online author visit to the winning child’s school. Full details, including a downloadable poster, are on the competition website.
• Foyle Young Poets competition – for 11-17-year-olds, the competition welcomes “poems on any theme and any length”.
• Stephen Spender Trust poetry in translation prize – the challenge is to translate a poem from any language into English. There are three categories for young people: U18, U16, and U14. The top prize is £1000.
• Ledbury Under 18’s poetry competition. Two categories – 11 and under and 12-17 request poems of no more than 40 lines in length. There are cash prizes or book tokens for the winners.
• HG Wells short story competition.
• Young Muslim Writers Award – open to UK children and teens in KS1, KS2, KS3 and KS4 who can submit a short story or poetry, and in KS3 and KS4, this is extended to also include journalism, screenplays, and play scripts. Full details are on the website.
• Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Words of the Wild Competition invites those under 18 to submit a poem, journalistic article, essay, letter, song lyrics or a short story of under 100 words of fiction or nonfiction “connected to the native wildlife of Scotland.“
• Future Writers invites children in years 3&4, 5&6, 7,8&9, 10,11,12&13, and young adults aged 18-29, to enter a themed poem inspired by the work of Benjamin Zephaniah. Full details are on the competition website.

Closing date in August

• King’s College Cambridge’s Entrepreneurship Essay Competition invites UK-based students in Years 11, 12 and 13 in England and Wales, S4-S6 in Scotland, or Years 12-14 in Northern Ireland, to write an essay on one of the set entrepreneurship questions. The 2026 deadline is 5th August.
• The Spyder Outreach Summer Writing Contest 2026 is open to 8-16-year-olds worldwide. Entrants can submit a piece of writing under 600 words on the theme “the perfect summer day“. There is a £2.50 entry fee, and the deadline is 10 August.
• Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest offers three 2026 submission cycles, with article deadlines on 31 May 2026, 24 August 2026 and 2 January 2027. The contest is open to students in grades 7-12 in the United States and internationally; submissions must be written in English with traditional American spelling.
• Cinemagic Young Filmmaker – open to films on any subject from young filmmakers aged under 25. The prizes include winning films being screened in cinemas.

Closing date in September

• Mere Literary Festival‘s Children’s and Young People’s Writing Competition invites children up to 10 years old and young people aged 11-15 to submit writing of up to 800 words on the theme of Adventure. With book token prizes on offer, this contest is open to children in the UK.
• Crowvus Ghost Story Competition is free to enter for children up to 16, who can submit up to 4000 words in a Word file. The winner will receive a £50 Ghost Osa Award.
• Inclusive Voices is a writing competition run by Calibre Audio. For 2026, entrants can submit a written, audio or video story or poem of up to 550 words on an empathy-led theme showing life from another person’s perspective. Age categories are under 11, 12-17, 18-25 and 26 and over; the competition is open to UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man residents and runs from 4 June to 13 September 2026.
• World Record attempt for World Poetry Day – this is not a competition, but a challenge. Your school could participate in Laura Mucha’s plan to involve 60,000+ 7-12-year-old students in writing a poem about ‘what counts’. Full sign-up details can be found on the National Poetry Day website.
• The Betty Haigh Shakespeare Prize is open to students aged 11-19 in school, college or sixth form. Entrants submit up to 1,500 words in a chosen form, demonstrating creative and critical engagement with an adaptation of Shakespeare. The 2026 competition opens on 1 June and closes at midnight on 30 September 2026.
• The Yorkshire Festival of Story Children’s Story Competition invites short stories from UK children aged 7-12.
• Taradiddle Young Writer Contests are also open in September. (More details in the March section).

Closing date in October

• Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate is open to 13-17-year-olds who live and are educated in Warwickshire. Applicants submit three poems and a personal statement, and the selected poet represents Warwickshire Libraries at events during the year. The 2026 deadline is 1st October.
• Then & Now, from TogetherintheUK, is offering first or second-generation migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, international students or international workers who have lived or currently live in the UK, the chance to win £250. Under 18s can enter a poem or lyrics to a song, an essay or a short story based on a prescribed theme. For more details, see the competition website.
• Poem 99 competition – 5-7, 8-10, 11-13 and 14-16-year-olds can enter up to 20 lines of poetry on a prescribed theme. There is an entry fee for this competition.
• The Young Walter Scott Prize invites writers aged 11-19 to submit historical fiction set before they were born. Stories must be between 800 and 2,000 words, and the 2026 closing date is 31 October.
• The Solstice Nature Prize For Young Writers, organised by Writing East Midlands, invites children and teens aged 7-17 to write ‘imaginative short stories (up to 500 words) and provocative poems (up to 40 lines)’. The competition offers cash prizes and an anthology of the best entries. There are three age categories: 7-11, 12-14 and 15-17.

Closing date in November

• BBC 500 words short story competition for children –  with two age group categories, 5-7-year-olds and 7-11-year-olds.
• Royal Geographical Society School Essay Competition – the 2026 competition, run in partnership with the Financial Times, asks students to answer a question about migration. Entries can be essays or ArcGIS StoryMaps of no more than 1,000 words and must be submitted by 5pm GMT on Monday 9 November 2026.
• Poetry Together Competition – children under 18 in the UK are invited to enter poems of no more than 14 lines on a theme detailed on the competition website, and choose a poem on any theme to learn by heart. There are two age group categories and full details are available on the competition website.
• The Tadpole Press 100 Word Writing Contest is a worldwide competition open to writers of all ages. There’s an entry fee for this one, with cash prizes and writing development packages on offer for the winners.
• The Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize for writers aged 18-25 invites entries of 1000-1500 words on a Franklin quote, which changes each year. The deadline is 30th November.

Closing date in December

• Give Nature a Voice, run by naturalcurriculum.co.uk, invites pupils in Years 3–6 to watch a short BBC Natural History clip and write a creative piece of up to 500 words, such as a monologue or dialogue between animals, to accompany the footage.
• Into Film awards – see also the ‘Film of the Month’ competition and the extensive resources to encourage school film clubs.
• One Teen Story – a story submission site for teenagers. “One Teen Story publishes 3 stories a year and accepts submissions from teen writers ages 13-19.”
• It’s not a writing competition, but GCHQ’s annual Christmas Challenge is a great competition for your library groups! There are downloadable school packs for teachers and librarians.

Closing date in January

• IOP (Institute of Physics) is running a Quantum on the Clock competition for 16-18 year olds in their final two years at school to enter an original video of up to three minutes in length describing “any aspect of quantum science or technology.“
• The East Riding Festival of Words runs a poetry competition with a Young Poets’ Prize for primary-school-aged children aged 4-10 and secondary-school-aged children aged 11-16. Poems must be no more than 45 lines on the theme My Universe; the 2025/26 deadline was 10 January 2026.
• Keele University’s Young Writers Competition invites 13-16 year olds to enter a 500-2000 word fictional story on a prescribed theme. Prizes include a £100 gift card for the winner. Full details are on the competition website.
• The Stepping Into Stories Kids Lit Festival runs a story competition for 4-7, 8-11 and 12+ year olds. Entries should fit on a single page of paper, and films and recordings should be no longer than two minutes.
• The Cheshire Prize for Literature is open to 4-18 year-olds who ‘live or have lived, work or have worked, studied or have studied in Cheshire, Wirral, Warrington or Halton.’ Children and teens can enter short stories, poetry, children’s literature, scriptwriting and flash fiction. There are three age group categories: primary (4-11), secondary (11-17) and over 18.
• Perse Research’s Year 9 Aristotelian Award is open to students in Year 9 or equivalent. The award exists to “promote the independent study skills in Year 9 pupils while simultaneously providing an avenue to explore super-curricular interests in the arts, humanities and sciences.” Entrants are invited to write an 800-1500 word essay choosing a title from a choice of topics and essay titles spanning the arts, humanities and the sciences.
• The Royal Mint Museum short story competition – open to “Anyone aged eight to eleven, inclusive, who lives in, and is schooled or homeschooled, in the United Kingdom.“
• The Immerse Essay Competition offers teens aged 13-18 the opportunity to write an essay choosing from a range of topics, including architecture, science, law, international relations, medicine, economics, creative writing and many more. There are two age groups: 13-15 and 16-18. The deadline is 4th January.
• North Eastern University London is running an essay competition for students in year 12. Pupils can submit up to 1,500 words, choosing from a range of set essay titles that span a broad range of topics including humanities, philosophy, social issues, the law and creative writing. There are cash prizes for the top three entries.
• The Korean Spirit & Culture Promotion Project Essay Contest is an international competition open to children in two age group categories: years 6-9 and years 10-13. There are cash prizes for the top three entries and honourable mentions in each category. Full entry details are available on this information poster. All submissions must be submitted by 15th January.
• Rotary Club International Young Writer competition.
• Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest offers three 2026 submission cycles, with article deadlines on 31 May 2026, 24 August 2026 and 2 January 2027. The contest is open to students in grades 7-12 in the United States and internationally; submissions must be written in English with traditional American spelling.

Closing date in February

• The Young Northern Writers’ Awards, run by New Writing North, are open to 11-18-year-olds who live in the North of England. Young writers can submit creative work in any form, including prose, poetry, scriptwriting, blogging, songwriting and rap. There are two age categories: 11-14 and 15-18.
• The Guardian’s Emerging Voices Awards, previously called the Hugo Young Award, invite 16-18-year-olds and 19-25-year-olds from a state school background to submit a short political opinion piece on a subject of their choice.
• Together In Verse is a competition open to children aged 4-19, “writing about or with an older person in their life.” More details are available on the competition website.
• Time to Write, run by ISEB and IAPS, is open to 7-16-year-olds in all schools. Schools can submit pupils’ stories in four age group categories – years 3&4, years 5&6, years 7,8&9 and years 10&11.
• The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition is open to all children of school age, including school and college pupils, home-educated children and entries from young people’s community organisations. The top prizes are £300 for the winner and £1000 for their school library. There are three age categories: 5-10, 11-14, and 15-18. The 2026 theme is “Happily ever after?”
• Christopher Tower Poetry Prize – open to young adults aged 16-18.

Closing date in March

• (Deadline now extended) Never Such Innocence – The 2026 theme is “In Someone Else’s Shoes”, and to enter, children and teens can use poetry, art, speech and song. There are four age group categories (9-11;  11-14;  14-16;  & 16-18), and full details are on the competition website.
• The Julia & Martin Wilson Short Story Prize, run by Broadway Arts Festival, invites children aged under 10 and 11-16 year olds to enter short stories of up to 2,000 words on any theme. Entry details and prize details are on the competition website.
• A Statue For Ada is running a poetry competition to help highlight the life of Ada Nield Chew, a suffragist from Crewe. Under 18s can enter the contest for free, and schools can submit students’ poems of no more than 20 lines on the theme of change, protest and freedom.
• The Orwell Youth Prize is open to UK school and college students in years 7-13. The 2026 theme is Truth, and entrants can write about their world in any form they choose.
• Taradiddle Young Writer Contests offer children aged <13 to submit up to 500 words and 14-18 year olds up to 1000 words. The winners will receive prizes, and details of the writing prompts are on the organiser’s website.
• Young Science Writer of the Year Award – run by the Association of British Science Writers, this award is open to UK pupils aged 14-16 in non-selective state schools. Students can submit up to 800 words “on any subject in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics.”
• Young Songwriter Competition is an international songwriting competition for young songwriters aged 8-22. Entrants can submit original songs for review by music-industry judges; full category and entry details are on the Song Academy website.
• The BBC Young Reporter Competition is open to children and teens aged 11-18 who “want to report on a story or issue which is important to their life or the world around them”.
• The Guardian newspaper is running a Young Country Diary writing competition open to 8-14-year-olds based in the UK. Six winners will be published in the Guardian, and to enter, students need to write a 200-250 word article about ‘a recent encounter they’ve had with nature’. Full details can be found on the competition webpage.
• Fitzwilliam College Cambridge is running a series of essay competitions aimed at pupils in their penultimate year of education before university – i.e. Year 12, S5 or Y13 (Northern Ireland). Entries (written in English) are welcome from around the world. With six categories: Ancient World and Classics, Archaeology, History, Land Economy, Medieval World, and Architecture, this competition is highly recommended for 6th formers and could provide useful evidence for university applications, a starting point for an EPQ project, or a talking point for an admissions interview. The deadline is 3rd March.
• The BBC Young Writer’s Award – is open to 14-18-year-olds who can submit a piece of original fiction of up to 1000 words. Highly recommended.
• The Portico Sadie Massey Awards feature two competitions open to children. There’s the KS2, KS3, KS4, and KS5 Young Readers Competition (write a book review – any genre – on any subject) and the Young Writers competition, open to pupils in KS3,4&5 (write a story based in the North of England.)
• The Girton College Humanities Writing Competition – open to Year 12 students in the UK, the writing task is based on five objects in the college’s antiquities museum.
• The Royal Mint runs an annual competition for primary school pupils aged 8-11 who can enter short stories of up to 500 words. Prizes include books for the school library. For this year’s theme and entry details, see the competition website.
• The Lowry’s Creative Writing Challenge is open to children aged 7-11 from across Salford and Greater Manchester. “Pupils can draw on all aspects of writing for performance“, and enter writing of up to 500 words including poetry and stories or up to three minutes of playscript.
• The ISA Handwriting Competition is open to children in years 1, 2, 3-4 & 5-6 in ISA member schools, “to showcase their handwriting skills”.
• Voices – a writing competition, run by the charity Coram Voice, which is open to children and young people who are in or have experience with the care system.

Closing date in April

• The Young Playwrights Award is a free, open-access competition for any 13-18-year-olds in the UK who can write and submit a play of 1000-5000 words. There are lots of resources on the competition website, including videos, lesson plans and guidance for teachers.
• The Elmbridge Literary Competition is open only to residents, schools and groups based in Elmbridge. Entry is free for under-18s, and the 2026 closing date is Monday 27 April.
• The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, run by The Queen’s College, Oxford, is free to enter and open to pupils aged 11-18 at schools across the UK. Pupils translate a literary text from one of the languages listed on the competition website, with resources available for teachers.
• Magdalene College Cambridge’s Armstrong Arts and Humanities Essay Competition is open to students in their penultimate year of education who attend state-maintained schools in the UK or Isle of Man. Entrants submit one essay of up to 2,000 words in response to a choice of arts and humanities questions.
• Humanimal Trust Creative Awards – children and teens aged 7-18 can share their creative skills on the theme of ‘We Are All Animals‘ in four age group categories: 7-9; 10-11; 12-15 & 16+. Full details are on the competition website.
• Pitch Magazine is running a Young Sports Journalist competition. Students aged 14-24 can enter an article of 400-600 words in response to the question prompts on the website. There are four age group categories: 14-15, 16-17, 18-19 and 20-21 and there’s a £50 prize and work experience opportunity for each winning entry.
• Reading Zone offers a Create a Picture Book competition that’s open to 4-18-year-olds in three age group categories: 4-7; 7-11 and 11+. Prizes include £200 of books.
• Tadpole Press is running a worldwide 100-word writing contest open to writers of all ages. 100 words can be submitted in any genre. There is an entry fee for this competition, and there’s a cash prize for 1st place and writing coaching and editing packages for the 2nd and 3rd places. Deadlines are in April and November.
• Author of Tomorrow – run by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation, the Author of Tomorrow prize aims to find adventure writers of the future. Young people under 21 can submit entries between 1500 and 5000 words (under 500 words for primary-aged pupils). The prizes are £1000 for the 16-21 age group, £100 and £150 in book tokens for the 12-15 age group, and £100 and £150 in book tokens for the 11 and under age group.
• Goldsmiths University of London is running a series of competitions for 16-18-year-olds who are invited to a short story, a piece of journalism with a historical angle, or a piece about identity and culture: The Young Writer, Young Columnist, and Young Anthropologist competitions.
• The annual OxBright Essay Competition invites 15-18-year-olds to submit an essay of up to 3,800 characters (around 500 words). Details of the theme and subject requirements are on the competition website.

Closing date in May

• The Young Norfolk Writing Prize, run by the National Centre for Writing, invites 10-18-year-olds who live or study in Norfolk to submit up to four pieces of creative writing on the annual theme. Poems, stories, scripts and other forms of creative writing are accepted.
• SRUC’s Green Stories Competition invites secondary pupils in Scotland to write a short story, poem, creative essay or poster on the future of the planet. There are separate categories for S1-S3 and S4-S6 pupils, with prizes for pupils and their schools.
• Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest offers three 2026 submission cycles, with article deadlines on 31 May 2026, 24 August 2026 and 2 January 2027. The contest is open to students in grades 7-12 in the United States and internationally; submissions must be written in English with traditional American spelling.
• Hampshire Young Poets’ competition invites 4-7, 8-11 and 12-16 year olds living or studying in Hampshire to enter a poem of no more than 14 lines on a specific theme. This year, the theme is Food. Prizes include book tokens.
• Quay Words Young Writers’ Flash Fiction Competition is open to 10-18-year-olds who can submit a 500-word (10-14 year olds) or 250-word (14-18 year olds) piece of flash fiction on the prescribed theme. Full entry details can be found on the competition website.
• Independence Education Publishers is celebrating their 35th birthday by launching a writing competition for KS3 and KS4 students. 11-14-year-olds and 15-18-year-olds can write original 500-1000-word pieces about ‘Teen Self-Care‘.
• The Poetry of Science Competition – Can you write a ‘terrific scientific poem‘? Each entrant can enter one poem of up to 150 words. There are three age group categories: 5-7, 8-11 and 12-16. For schools, there’s a downloadable poster for classrooms here. Winners will be invited to Oxford to attend a celebration event and perform their poems.
• The D.H. Lawrence Children’s Prize: Writing Competition is open to students aged 7 and under, 8-11 and 12-16, who can enter up to 500 words on the theme of “Animals”. Prizes include Kindles and book tokens.
• Bournemouth Writing Festival is running an international students’ competition, with the theme of “On Bournemouth Beach“. It’s open to international students aged 16+ whose first language is not English.
• War Through Children’s Eyes is open to children aged 7-17 and aims to “raise awareness of the impact of wars and violent conflicts on the communities caught up in them, and particularly on the most vulnerable members of those communities: their children“. Entries of up to 1000 words are invited; there are vouchers for the top three entries, and full details are available on the website.
• The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition is open to young people under the age of 19. The competition features a starter paragraph and invites entrants to write under 1000 words to continue the story.
• Harvard International Review offers submission deadlines in May, August and January for international students in grades 9-12 (UK Years 10-13) to submit an international affairs article between 800 and 1200 words in US English on one of three prescribed themes and defined categories.

Undated or open

• Student Voices, from The Day, gives students at member schools the opportunity to submit articles and videos. The Global Young Journalist Awards moved to Student Voices for member schools, and full submission guidance is available on The Day’s website.
• National Theatre New Views is a nationwide playwriting programme for young people aged 14-19. Participating schools, colleges and groups work with professional playwrights, and students write original plays for the annual New Views programme.
• Canterbury Children’s Literature Festival’s Go Wild with Stories Writing Competition invites young people to submit written stories, comics, illustrated stories or poetry on the annual festival theme. The competition includes 5-11 and 12-16 age ranges, with selected entries forming part of a festival story trail.
• Scottish Book Trust runs 50 Word Fiction competitions, inviting entrants to write a 50-word story in response to a prompt. The page includes current monthly prompts and young-writer winners.
• Kids’ Poetry Club runs a variety of competitions for primary and secondary-aged children, with a new theme announced every few months.
• The Young Poets Network runs regular writing challenges and competitions, which can be viewed on their website.
• BBC Today Student Journalism Awards – this competition features a variety of journalism categories, including journalism (any medium), broadcasting, visual and photojournalism, criticism, publication, and programme. Entrants must be over 18 and in full-time UK higher education. The prizes include places on highly coveted BBC Journalism Trainee Schemes (paid positions).
• BBC Writers Room is inviting speculative screenplay submissions of at least 30 pages from young scriptwriters aged 16+ in the UK or the Republic of Ireland.
• Blue Things Zine invites young writers aged 13+ to write articles and stories under 1500 words for consideration for publication.
• Scholastic We Are Writers – not a competition per se, but lots of ideas for literacy and writing projects with the aim of getting your pupils published. Ideal for fundraisers or whole-school writing initiatives.
• Inkhead short story competition and writing clubs.
• Amnesty International has a series of online resources – ‘Words That Burn‘ – to inspire teenagers to write about human rights, equality and discrimination.
• National Literacy Trust competitions page.
• The Guild of Food Writers Write It – Young Food Writer of the Year – is open to children up to 18 in three age categories.
• Live Canon: Children’s Poetry Competition – for young people aged 5-18.
• For a non-competitive option, the John Muir Award offers schools an opportunity to “encourage people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places.” Through an award scheme, pupils can create a dossier of experiences, challenges and presentations to demonstrate how they have discovered a wild place, explored it, done something to conserve it and shared their experience. A good option for larger groups, classes and year groups, this award requires teacher input and planning. Suitable for year 4 through to secondary-aged pupils.
• The First Story Young Writers Festival offers pupils a day-long online festival with workshops, resources, interviews with writers, showcases for young writers, and CPD for teachers. This is a fantastic resource to inspire children to write for publication and would make a great starting point for pupils considering entering writing competitions. (Note the festival is not running a competition of its own.)

Resources for creative writing in schools and at home

Websites

• Hoo’s Writing Corner – an exciting, creative writing website for primary-aged children. The website includes writing prompts and exercises, and the monthly subscription magazine includes story construction ideas and spelling worksheets.

Books

• Below is a collection of books recommended to inspire children to write, whether it be creative writing, nonfiction, or poetry.