Children’s and Young People’s Writing Competitions

The 2017 Children’s and Young People’s Writing competitions are now open!

Children’s Poetry Competition:

Schools and individual children from Yorkshire and Lancashire are welcome to enter this competition.

AGE CATEGORIES

• Reception, Year 1, Year 2
• Year 3 and 4
• Year 5 and 6

PRIZES FOR EACH AGE GROUP

• A special certificate.
• Book tokens, kindly provided by the Grove Bookshop Ilkley, and The Grammar School at Leeds
• Runners-up in each category, if the judges decide these are merited, will receive a certificate and a book.
• Winners will be invited to a special poetry event during this year’s Festival at Ilkley Playhouse.

THE RULES.

1. One entry per young poet. Please make sure it’s all your own work.
2. Poems can be on any theme, suitable for reading by a general audience.
3. Poems shouldn’t be longer than 28 lines including the title, or they can be as short as you like.
4. Entries are open to Yorkshire and Lancashire residents only.

We would ask class teachers to try and avoid sending us sets of poems where every child has used the same writing frame and just changed a few words, as they are almost impossible to judge fairly. Sets of poems where each child has written individually in response to a similar or even identical theme are fine.

We are sorry we are unable to offer feedback on individual poems or enter into any correspondence regarding judging and selection.

Closing date: Friday 11 September 2017

Click here to download the 2017 Childrens Competition Rules and Form

 

Young People Writing Competitions:

Schools and individual young people in Years 7–13 (ages 11/12-18 inclusive) are welcome to enter this competition, which is for an original poem or short story.

AGE CATEGORIES

Entries will be judged in the following categories:

• Years 7, 8 and 9
• Years 10 and 11
• Years 12 and 13

PRIZES

There will be 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd prizes for Poetry and Short Story in each category unless the judges decide otherwise.

These will include:

• A special certificate.
• Book tokens for 1st prize winners, kindly provided by Ilkley Book Club and the Grove Bookshop, Ilkley.
• Books for 2nd and 3rd prize winners. Runners-up in each category, if the judges decide these are merited, will receive a certificate.
• Winners will be invited to read their work at the ‘Cool Voices’ event on Saturday 7 October at 7.15pm at Church House, Ilkley as part of this year’s Literature Festival.

THE RULES

1. One poem and/or one short story per young writer. Please make sure it’s all your own work.
2. Please note, you can submit work you did in the Spring or Summer term of 2017.
3. Poems or short stories can be on any theme.
4. Poems shouldn’t be longer than 28 lines including the title, or they can be as short as you like.
5. Short stories shouldn’t be longer than 2,000 words and they can be as short as you like- some of the best short stories are very short!

Closing date: Monday 11 September 2017

Click here to download the 2017 Young Peoples Competition Rules and Form