Creative Writing Opportunities
Entered our competition and got the writing bug? We have put together a list of competitions and opportunities run by other organisations that you might like to get invoeved with.
If there are any other competitions that aren’t listed here that we should know about, please send them to us at teen@scottishbooktrust.com.
Competitions
The Gadda Prize: Best Junior Detective Fiction
Open to all Edinburgh S3 pupils. Write a detective story in 2,000, but it must be set in Rome. Closing Date: 31st March 2010.
Foyle Young Poets of the Year 2009
You can enter poems on any theme, and of any length, and in any shape you like. You must be 11-17 to enter.
Closing date: 31st July 2009
The Pushkin Prizes
If you're S1 or S2 you could attend, along with 9 other young writers, a five-day creative writing course at the Arvon Foundation Writers’ Centre near Inverness.
Closing date: 17th December 2009
247tales
A monthly competition run by Bloomsbury that challenges you to write short stories using 247 words or fewer. You must be between 8 and 16 to enter.
Closing date: Near the end of each month
Writer’s Forum Magazine
Submit a story your story published in writer’s forum magazine and you could win £30. You must be under 16 to enter.
Closing date: Runs every month
Txt Lit
Write a 160 character microstory on your mobile phone and then text it in. It costs £1 to text a story though, so choose your words very very carefully!
Closing date: The last day of every month
National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland run a creative writing competition every year called “Inspired? Get Writing”. You must write a short poem or piece of prose inspired by one of the works in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland. Closing date: tba
Moon Town Cafe
This poetry American website runs free-to-enter poetry contests. You can also post your poems in the Teen section for other people to read and review.
Opportunities All Year Round
Arts Action Fund from Young Scot
If you have an artistic, creative or cultural idea that you need a bit of cash to set up, and you are a member of Young Scot (aged between 11 and 26), then you can apply to the Arts Action Fund. They can award up to £200 for individuals and £750 to groups of young people, so go and check it out!
NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
Not a competition, but certainly a challenge! NaNoWriMo challenges you to write an entire novel in the month of November. You get to set your own word count and there are excellent ideas works book to download!
Spinebreakers
Spinebreakers is a cool Penguin teen website where you can send in your creative writing (or anything else creative) and they might just end up online! They often run competition so keep an eye on site.
World’s longest poem
Help poet Gez Walsh create the world’s longest poem!
Kids on the Net
Submit your writing and it may go up on the website
Young Writer Magazine
Submitted writing could be featured in their magazine. Accepts submissions all year round.
Rifsters!
The Rifsters area of the Reading Is Fundamental website is for under 19s to get involved with regular competitions, book reviews, quizzes and submitting your own writing and pictures.
Writers Online
The Writers Online website encourages children to write pieces of their own in response to, and in the style of, an extract from a well-known writer.
Secret Attic
Secret Attic is a writing community that often runs lots of monthly writing competitions. Some of them cost to enter, but most don’t.
BookCrossing
You can submit an article to BookCrossing, and if it is accepted, you could see it featured in their newsletter. You can write anything about books, reading, or BookCrossing - tutorials, release and catch stories, well-travelled book stories or funny BookCrossing experience stories.
