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Books and reading: Writing competitions

Writing Competitions 2025

Check for upcoming opportunities to submit your work.

Immerse Education Essay Competition

Immerse Education Essay Competition

The international Immerse Education Essay Competition invites students aged 13–18 to write a 500-word essay on a topic of their choice from our list of over twenty subject questions or choose our open question to explore your own idea. 

Entries close 18 September 2025

Insight Creative Writing Competition

 

Competition Key Dates

The optional theme for 2025 is: Soulmates

2025 Important Dates

  • Competition Opens: 20 March
  • Competition Closes: EXTENDED 15 September

  • Longlist Announcement: 1October
  • Shortlist Announcement: 22 October
  • Awards Ceremony: TBA



Cash prizes!

Mulga Bill Writing Award

State Library Victoria: What's On

Local area competitions

Little Black Dress Spooky Story Competition

What Matters writing competition

What Matters Writing Competition

Inspired by Gough Whitlam's commitment to involving young people in shaping Australia's future, the What Matters? writing competition is currently open to school students in years 5 to 12 from Australia. Responding to the simple question 'what matters?', entrants are free to express their views on any matter they care about.

Part writing exercise, part civics and citizenship activity, What Matters? is the perfect opportunity to empower students to raise their voices on issues that are important to them and know that their perspectives are valuable, no matter their age, background or viewpoint.  Entries can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose of up to 600 words, and submitted online.

 

Entries closed 16 May 2025

Writers Victoria

Poetry competitions

Student poetry competition

Entries closed 29th August 2025.

 

Theme Gratitude

Furious Fiction

Indigo Teen Hub

Mount Scopus students published 2021

Science Writing and Poster Competition

Science writing and poster competition.

The 2025 Theme is Decoding the Universe: Exploring the Unknown with Nature’s Hidden Language.

Creative Writing topics:

1. Whispers of the Stars: A Journey into Quantum space.             
2. Secrets of the Sun: A Journey with Photons/
3. A Quest for the Golden Ratio.
4. The Butterfly Effect. 

Posters & Scientific Wallcharts

1. How Tiny Particles Shape Big Things.
2. The Science of Quantum Cryptography. 
3. AI and Quantum Science: The Future of Technology.
4. Quantum Science Driving Innovation in Medicine.

See Ms Alagappan for further details.

National competitions

Little Stories, Big Ideas - a flash writing award open to Australian secondary school aged students

 

Entires closed Monday 30th June.

Entrants must write to the theme in 100 words or less, in any literary style they like. Anything is welcome – prose, poetry, comics, song lyrics, or whatever else you love writing.

Voiceworks

Little Stories. Big Ideas.