Young Scots Writer o the Year Award 2023

Are you someone with stories to share? Or a teacher working with young writers we should know about? We're looking for our next Scots writer of the year.

Stories, poems, spoken word pieces, comics, videos or other pieces of writing – we want to see it all, as long as it's in Scots and under 2500 words or up to ten minutes.

The winner will be named Young Scots Writer o the Year 2023 and receive their award and a £100 book token at a special ceremony (The Scots Language Awards) in September 2023. They'll have the chance to receive their prize on stage and either read their work or have it read for them – but only if they want to! We’ll also share a little bit of their winning entry on our website. Check out last year's winners.

Whit hiv I got tae dae?

Write a story or a poem in Scots. Or it could be a play, a comic or a video in Scots – whitever you want tae write or create!

Whit's Scots?

Scots is a sister language o English. It has words like hoose, hame, oot, scunner, oxter, skelp and wheesht. Scots has several dialects such as Glaswegian, Doric, Dundonian, Edinburgh Scots, Fife Scots, Ayrshire Scots, Borders Scots, Shetland and Orcadian and ithers.

How mony words can I write?

Minimum 50 words – maximum 2,500 words. Or 10 minutes of video/audio.

Whit aboot the prizes?

First prize: £100 book token and option to be at The Scots Language Awards, which will will be in Johnstone Town Hall on Saturday 16 September, thanks to support from Renfrewshire Council. 

Second prize: £50 book token

Highly commended entries: £25 book token

When's the deidline?

The deidline for submitting is Wednesday 21 June 2023, midday.

How dae I enter?

All you need to do is fill in our online form.

Young Scots writers

Entering is easy, all we're looking for is:

• Up to 2500 words or 10 minutes of video/recording

Writing should be in Scots, whether you write a story, poem, comic, play, song or make a short video.You must be aged 11–18 to enter as an individual.

(this will open in a new window)Young writers enter here

Teachers

Got a young Scots writer in your class who deserves to be recognised? We'd love for you to nominate them. You can nominate just one student or as many as you like. All you need to include is:

• Up to 2500 words or 10 minutes of video/recording (poems, stories, comics, videos) for each student

Your student's writing should be in Scots, but the nominations can be in Scots or English.

Authors Thomas Clark and Kathleen Jamie were on the judging panel for the Young Scots Writer o the Year Award 2022 and they have some handy tips for teachers supporting young people to write in Scots.

(this will open in a new window)Teachers enter here

Looking for more Scots?

Check out our book lists, resources, author events and more on our Scots topic page.

Young Scots Writer o the Year Award is run in partnership with Hands Up for Trad, Scots Hoose, Education Scotland and Scottish Government.