2025 marks 36 years of Stanton Library and North Sydney Council celebrating the writing talent of young people in our community with our annual Young Writers' Award since 1989.
Young people aged 11 to 18 years old are invited to submit either one poem or short story not exceeding 750 words for their chance to win amazing prizes, including $3500 cash pool, publisher experience, and loot bags with vouchers, snacks and bookish prizes.
Special thanks to our sponsors:
- Walker Books Australia
- Penguin Random House
- Hardie Grant Publishing
Submissions have now closed for 2025.
Meet the five judges
Erin Gough
Award-winning author of three books for young adults: The Flywheel, which won the Ampersand Prize, Amelia Westlake, winner of the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the NSW Premier’s Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and Into the Mouth of the Wolf, her most recently published work in May 2024.
Helena Fox
Novelist, poet and creative writing mentor. Her debut novel, How it Feels to Float, won the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Writing for Young Adults. Her second novel, The Quiet and the Loud, won the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature in 2024.
Jaclyn Moriarty
International best-selling author of novels for children, young adults and adults, including the Kingdoms and Empires series. Her books have won the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, the Queensland Premier’s Award, the Aurealis Award and other prizes, and named as CBCA Honour Books and Boston Globe/Hornbook Honor books.
Sue Whiting
Acclaimed children’s and young adult author, and editor with over twenty years experience. She is the author of the bestselling book Missing and the award-winning A Swim in the Sea. The Book of Chance was shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards and Highly Commended in the 2021 Davitt Awards.
Will Kostakis
Will Kostakis was just nineteen years old when his first novel was released and he’s been writing (and rewriting) ever since. His latest novel, We Could Be Something, won the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Literature, was shortlisted for the Victorian and New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and the Queensland Literary Award.
2024 Winners
- 16-18 years
Winner: Kathryn Rendulic - Untitled (Like Emerging)
Highly Commended: Tony Chen - Ox-Demons and Snake-Spirits
Commended: Jenny Fung - Children of the Forest
Merit: Anchita Eranki - Burnt Rice
Merit: Caitlin Demoiseau - Untitled (I Used To Think)
Merit: Crista-Nicole Gahdmar - The Yellowed Cards
Merit: Demelza Marion Lee - I Miss You
Merit: Elizabeth Soo - Untitled (At the Corners)
Merit: Gaby Cunningham - Woman: The Derivative
Merit: Lauren McGirr - Dearest Mum
- 15 years
Winner: Kayla Khoo - Letters, Unknown
Highly Commended: Amanda Linh - Cricket
Commended: Aikem Billing - Le temps passe et coule
Merit: Alexandra Roberts - Winter Exile
Merit: Annabelle Stapleton - Lights
Merit: Ching Hei Kylie Liu - Death of a Sunset
Merit: Francis Hsu - A History of Idiots
Merit: Matthew Clarke - Thunderbirds
Merit: Peter Luo - Memories in Bakhmut
Merit: Sophie Yang - Be a Lady
- 14 years
Winner: Sophie Christianson - The Old Swing Set
Highly Commended: Isla Campbell - Scarlet Tears and Ebony Flowers
Commended: Briar Qiu - Curtain Call
Merit: Edie Olesnicky - ChatGPT-imported.file
Merit: Isabelle Teh - Vignette
- 13 years
Winner: Sheryl Monteiro - A Girl Born From Flames
Highly Commended: Maggie Langsworth - 898 Grams
Commended: Niamh Aerin Black - Happy Birthday
Merit: Genevieve Nolan-Uzcilas - Singed Memories
Merit: Jaime Abigail Wong - Nine Years
Merit: Lexi Hartigan - Forever Existing
Merit: Piper Courtney - We Are Dying
Merit: Sophia Chitkara - Log Entry
Merit: Sophie Meng - Moon
Merit: Summer Phi - Underneath the Oak Tree
Merit: Tiana Abustan - For the Greater Good
Merit: Vera Yuen - Sunken Mattress
Merit: Valerie Chung - The Star
- 11-12 years
Winner: Louis Williams - Almond Latte
Highly Commended: Zachary Robertson - Emotional Intelligence
Commended: Jeana Shen - Cosmic Echoes Unveiled
Merit: Alessia Concetta Christel Leotta - Writing on the Wall
Merit: Cinny Yuan - I Am
Merit: Ein Shin - The First Folio of November and Me
Merit: Isaac Roth - The Old Oak Tree
Merit: Kenzie Maher - What Once Was
Merit: Luca Cowlishaw - Late
Merit: Mahee Bharadwaj - Beauty Through the Window Pane
Merit: Olivia Xia Wu - Grandma's Antiques
Merit: Sebastian Clark - Forever Changing
Merit: Swetha Eranki - Two Homes
Thank you to our sponsors
