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Cumberland Young Writers Award 2024

Cumberland City Council Libraries, in partnership with the Library Advisory Committee, are excited to announce the annual Cumberland Young Writers Award 2024.

Entries open Monday 18 March 2024 and close Friday 26 July 2024


The competition will be open to students from 8 to 18 years old who live in Cumberland, attend a school in Cumberland, or who are members of the Library Service. The competition provides opportunities for young writers and illustrators to showcase their talents.

Age group categories

The competition will be judged and awarded in the following age group categories:

  •  8 to 11 years old 
  • 12 to 14 years old
  • 15 to 18 years old

Writing Workshops

To assist young writers, Cumberland City Council Libraries will be working with bestselling children’s author Oliver Phommavanh to run workshops for students who are interested in learning to write.

The workshops will be held at Granville Library, 1 Memorial Drive, Granville and bookings are essential.

Bookings

Follow the links below to book into a workshop filtered by competition age group category.


Entry details

Entries are judged on originality, creativity, construction, and use of language.

An independent panel will be assembled that will judge the works. Four finalists are chosen in each age group.

Works could be:

  • Short stories (maximum 500 words)
  • Poetry (maximum 30 lines)
  • Graphic short story (maximum 10 pages)

All entries will complete a work using the images provided for their corresponding age group.

Entrants can utilise as many of the images as they desire.

8 to 11 years age group


12 to 14 years age group


15 to 18 years age group


Awards

Awards will be presented to one (1) winner, one (1) runner-up and two (2) highly commended in each age group and type of work.

Finalists from each category will have their works published in a book that will be added to the library collection and made available on Council’s website. Full names of finalists will be published and may be made available online and to the public. All participants will be given a participation award for recognition of the work


How to enter

Please read the Conditions of Entry before submitting your entry.

Submit the Entry Form (PDF, 2.5MB) with your story, poem or graphic short story.

Entries close Friday 26 July 2024