2026 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 prices, including $3,500 cash pool, an exclusive Publisher Experience with Penguin Random House Australia and personalised editorial feedback, and loot bags with vouchers, snacks and bookish prizes.
Save the date! 2027 Young Writers' Award opens 1 December 2026.
To keep up to date with the winners' announcements:
- Instagram: @stanton_library
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Please take a look at the winners from this year's Young Writers' Award below.
2026 winning entries
- 16-18 years
Winner: Kayla B - Dust in my Blood
Highly Commended: Nadia M - Safe Haven
Commended: Isabella W - Lindabury Manor
Merit: Beita Su - Ozymandias
Merit: Jeffrey M - Only Translated
Merit: Lainie L - Hermes' Epistle
Merit: Zavier N - Look Away
- 14-15 years
Winner: Aimee K - Birdsong
Highly Commended: Anabelle K - Where the silence grows
Commended: Chloe L - Before the end of the world
Merit: Amelie S - Icarus
Merit: Caitlyn S - A City Long Undone
Merit: Joey F - The Quiet Resistance
Merit: Rachel T - One of Them
- 13 years
Winner: Jeana S - Untitled (I had always)
Highly Commended: Nell P - Songbird
Commended: Laasya R V - The Winter Between Us
Merit: Christina W - Only Six
Merit: Ein S - Pending Orders
Merit: Erum K - Les cendres sentaient lorange
Merit: Irene B - Only A Kid
Merit: Isla B - A light in the darkness
Merit: Jamie S-U - The Kingdom of Redecta
Merit: Luna H - Autumn in China
Merit: Nicholas T - DNF Did Not Finish
- 12 years
Winner: Prisha J - The Me I Left Behind
Highly Commended: Adit G - Ablaze
Commended: Hani Phan - The Moody Land
Merit: Adrian F - The House I Used to Know
Merit: Ally J W - Uncharted
Merit: Andrew L - A World Built From Keys and Chains
Merit: Ben M - The Ghost Ship
Merit: Conor J H Y - The Fire
Merit: Elizabeth N - The Dancer
Merit: Maahi M - Silence Unleashed
Merit: Megan N - The Unsent Letter
Merit: Ned S - For the Wild
- 11 years
Winner: Callum S - She Will Go
Highly Commended: Sonia L - The Midnight Factory
Commended: Maisie K - The tale of brave Bushy
Merit: Caitlin B - A Piece of My Own Heart
Merit: Hugo N - Cricket
Merit: Jamie L Z - Snowfall
Merit: Jim S - Icy Silence
Merit: Jun L - Untitled (Under the cold)
Merit: Saisha B - Can't Stop The Fire
Merit: Suhavi S - The Petals of the Sakura
Merit: Thomas T M - Udon - A Calm Sea
Merit: Valerie C - Four Legs, One Home
Merit: Zoya K - The Slit Soul
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.
Jaclyn Moriarty
International best-selling author of novels for children, young adults and adults, including the ‘Kingdoms and Empires’ series. Jaclyn’s 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.
Jeremy Lachlan
Jeremy’s debut novel, ‘Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds’, was the 2019 Australian Book Industry Award winner for Book of the Year for Older Children. Its second part, ‘Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls’, was shortlisted for the same award in 2021. He came up with the idea for the Jane Doe Chronicles while lost in the Cairo Museum.
Sue Whiting
Acclaimed children’s and young adult author, and editor with over twenty years experience. Sue 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 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.
Thank you to our sponsors
Allen & Unwin
Hachette Australia
Penguin Random House
Walker Books Australia