Young Writers' Award

2026 submission form

As of Saturday 28 February 2026.
E.g. North Sydney 2066

Conditions of entry

  • All entries will be run through plagiarism and AI detection software. Entries found guilty of any plagiarism or any AI-assistance will be automatically disqualified.
  • Entrants must be aged between 11-18 years old as of Saturday 28 February 2026 and must be residents of the Sydney NSW metropolitan area.
  • Each entry must be an original work created by the entrant. Only one entry per person will be accepted; additional entries will deleted.
  • Each entry must be a poem or short story equal to or less than 750 words.
  • Each entry must be submitted with all detail fields completed, including parent or guardian consent to participate for entrants under 16 years. Schools will be notified of their students who place in the competition. 
  • For entries dealing with sensitive topics, a trigger warning must be included at the top of the page. Failure to do will result in disqualification.
  • Stanton Library is authorised to display and publish all entries.
  • Decisions from the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into. Individual feedback on submitted entries cannot be provided.
  • Submissions close at 11.59pm on Saturday 28 February 2026 and no entries submitted after this time will be accepted.
  • Due to the volume of submissions, only winning entries will be contacted.
I declare that I have read and agree to all the Conditions of Entry listed above, and that I am within the stipulated age range. (required)
I declare that this entry is entirely my own original work. I have not plagiarised any part of this entry and that no AI was used for any part of the writing process for this entry as well. (required)
I have not included any identifying information on the uploaded file. (i.e. no name, no age, no school added to any pages) (required)
Upload your entry below: (required) Accepted file types: .pdf

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