Take advantage of one of the many competitions running this term to inspire your young writers. From nature writing to modern fairy tales, rap lyrics to funny stories, there are competitions to cover all genres and ages.

• The BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University invites young people aged 14-18 to submit an original short story on any topic of their choice. Entries should be no longer than 1000 words and there are supporting teaching resources available.
  • Deadline for entries is 24th March.
• The Guardian’s Young Country Diary spring series opened on 1st March. Young people aged 8-14 are invited to submit an article of 200-250 words about a recent encounter with nature. The six winning articles will be published in the Guardian newspaper and online.
  • Deadline for entries is 1st April.
• Young Writers runs themed writing competitions for primary and secondary pupils all through the academic year. The new story writing competitions for the second half of this Spring Term have now been released and all come with supporting teaching resources.
  • Deadline for entries is 4th April.
• The Young Sports Journalist Competition is looking for well-argued articles on a range of sporting issues from young people aged 14-21. Entries must be a minimum of 700 words and no more than 800 words and answer the question for the relevant age group.
  • Deadline for entries is 9th April.
• The Royal Mint Museum Writing Competition invites young writers aged 8-11 to submit a story of no more than 500 words on the theme of Sustainable Futures. The winning story will be illustrated by professional artist Bronwen James and will win £5000 of vouchers for equipment and books for the author’s school library. Teaching resources and an inspiration section are available.
  • Deadline for entries is 25th April.
• The Author of Tomorrow Award  is an adventure writing award open to young people across the world. The competition is looking for stories that convey the thrill of adventure, the excitement of discovery and the triumph of bravery. There are three age categories – 11 and under, 12-15 and 16-21 – with specific word counts for each category.
  • Deadline for entries is 30th April.
• The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition invites young writers aged 8-18 to submit a short story (max 600 words), a poem or a set of song or rap lyrics (max 40 lines) that will Make ‘Em Laugh.  The theme is inspired by last year’s Branford Boase winner Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore.
  • Deadline for entries is the 30th May.
• The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is open for entries from aspiring poets aged 11-17. Poems must be written in English and should be a maximum of 40 lines long. However, the theme and style of the poem are open. There is a teacher submission portal for school entries.
  • Deadline for entries is 31st July.

Some top tips from authors

• Check out the Roarsome Writing Club, a set of five videos where Jenny McLachlan, former teacher and author of the best-selling The Land of Roar series shares some of her top writing tips.
• Award-winning author Brian Conaghan provides activities and tips to develop pupils’ creative writing in this suite of four Creative Writing Lessons for secondary schools from Scottish BookTrust.
• Explore the videos and supporting resources created for the 500 Words competition and be inspired by reading some of the top 50 stories submitted for this year’s competition.