Competitions
Just-for-fun writing contests for young writers, ages 9 and up.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Thanks for joining us for Contests & Giveaways throughout 2025. It’s been a pleasure to bring you fun reasons to write!
2026 Schedule:
TBD
PLEASE NOTE: Schedule may be subject to changes, especially in the case of surprise life happenings, brilliant ideas (that must be implemented instead), sword-fighting outbreaks, and/or hedgehog invasions.
Why Thor the Viking Sheep Is NOT Like Sleeping Beauty
(A note of great importance)
PLEASE NOTE: This is an image of Thor the Viking Sheep, not Sleeping Beauty.
Reason #1: 🐏⚔️
Thor & Sleeping Beauty may both have a deep distrust of spinning wheels, but Sleeping Beauty fell victim to one through her own stupidity (Thor says), whereas his was through a tragic case of mistaken identity.
For alas, as a young lamb—full of bright hope and dreams of glory—an elderly woman with poor eyesight mistook him for a large ball of wool (that is, yarn) and attached him to her spinning wheel.
For one terrible moment, Thor sat in stunned indignation, lulled by the whirl of the spinning wheel, watching his very wooliness diminish before his eyes. He was too young to die, too heroic! He was meant to be growing bigger, not smaller!
Thor sprung into action, biting the thread of his own wool to win back his freedom. The elderly lady yelped when her ball of yarn (that is, wool) came to life, baaed loudly, and chomped her on the nose.
Thor skedaddled away from the spinning wheel, slightly smaller than before, but slightly braver also.
(For the remainder of her life, it is said that the elderly lady visited knitting factories, stabbing every ball of woolish yarn and yarnish wool with her knitting needles, in search of “that live one with them indignant eyes and stubby legs.”)
Reason #2: 🐏⚔️
Thor may have spent time in a deep, prolonged sleep, but while Sleeping Beauty slumbered for decades, Thor merely ate too much Christmas pudding that one time and slept for two weeks.
Unfortunately, during that time, he slept through one hedgehog invasion, two family reunions, and three Pilates classes in which everyone assumed he was a cushion. ‘Twas the smell of his true love—fresh grass—that finally woke him from the depths of his slumber.
(Grass is far superior to Christmas pudding, Thor says, as it would never rob an unsuspecting sheep of his senses.)
Reason #3: 🐏⚔️
Thor & Sleeping Beauty may both possess stunning good looks, but while Sleeping Beauty’s is the frilly, sissy kind, Thor cannot help but carry the sheeply dignity and handsome nobility born of raw Viking DNA, forged by mighty deeds and daring.
So, In Summary…
Despite apparent similarities—distrust of spinning wheels, fondness for deep sleep, and stunning good looks—Sleeping Beauty and Thor the Viking Sheep are nothing, whatsoever, AT ALL alike.
This message has been commissioned and personally approved by Thor the Viking Sheep.
The Once Upon a Fairytale Short Story Contest
~ November 2025
Ages 9-10 – ‘Little Bear Bouncy’ by Nathanael Posthuma
Ages 11-12 – ‘A Tale Revealed’ by Thea Dozell
Ages 13-15 – ‘The Little Leviathan’ by Meg Bales
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Advanced Scribes: Ages 16-18 – ‘Return of the Prodigals’ by Willow Brooke
August Flash Fiction Challenge
Mini Contest: August 2025
Contestants wrote a 500-800 word short story involving a portable time machine. Click below to read five incredible stories that were chosen to be featured!
Giveaway: July 2025
The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Standalone Prequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society
Giveaway Winner:
Aurora Heta
The Great ROBIN HOOD Contest of Stories
~ May 2025
Ages 9-10 – ‘Trouble in London’ by Nathanael Posthuma
Ages 11-12 – ‘A Light in the Lonely Darkness’ by Rose Harris
Ages 13-15 – ‘The Really, Horribly, Not Quite So Bad Day’ by Abbigail Aitken
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Advanced Scribes: Ages 16-18 – ‘Two Sides to Every Tale’ by Bethany Cammell
Mini Contest: March 2025
Word Prompt Challenge
Ages 9-10 – ‘The Case of the Missing Alberts’ by Scout Garea
Ages 11-12 – ‘Dawn Thievery’ by Ruby-Bo Garea
Ages 13-15 – ‘The Finale’ by Talitha Borstad
Ages 16-18 – ‘Finding Words’ by Willow Brooke
Thor’s Choice – ‘DO NOT EVER tell Greek Myths to Kids’ by Rose Whitacre
Giveaway: February 2025
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
A fast-paced read filled with danger, action, lies, and deadly truths.
Giveaway Winner: Catherine Mai
The SECRET IDENTITY Short Story Contest
~ November 2024
Ages 9-10 – ‘Wounds of War’ by Valentina Pohl Fabris
Ages 11-12 – ‘The End of Acheron’ by Gimli of the Dwarves
Ages 13-14 – ‘I didn’t MEAN to blow up the opera house…’ by Meg Bales
Ages 15-16 – ‘Reconciliation’ by Willow Brooke
Mini Contest: September 2024
Winning Entries:
‘The Cure’ – Valentina Pohl Fabris, Age 10
‘The Reflection of a Thousand Possiblities’ – Talia Millership, Age 12
‘Mrs. Harris’s Millinery Shop’ – Talitha, Age 13
‘Mirror of the Earth’ – Myla, Age 14
‘The Future We Have’ – Anais Haythornthwaite, Age 16
Giveaway: August 2024
The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt
A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril.
Giveaway Winner: Alayah
May Short Story Contest
~ May 2024
Ages 9-10 – ‘The Golden Locket’ by Valentina Pohl Fabris
Ages 11-12 – ‘The Compass of Heather’ by Talia Millership
Ages 13-16 – ‘’From Beyond Hope’ by Willow Brooke
Thor’s Choice Award – ‘Label Your Units’ by Meg Bales
Mini Contest: March 2024
Contest Theme: Narnia
Short stories inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia.
Click below to read some incredible Narnian fanfiction! 👇
“I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?”
– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
by Trenton Lee Stewart
Privacy Policy
The Storylights
Firstly, we'll never sell or share any of your personal information with anyone else unless we're required to by law, and we only collect the minimum personal data that we need to run our services. For example, we need your name and email address so we can notify you if your competition entry has been selected for a prize, or to send you details about our next competition.
Secondly, any original story material that you send to us, either as part of a competition or not, remains your own personal intellectual property. However, by submitting your story to us, you grant us the right to display it on on our website, and we agree to always credit it to you the author. You retain full rights to your story, including the right to reuse it or resubmit it to any other competition or publication.
Terms & Conditions
The Storylights
By using this website, (for example, by submitting a form, or entering a competition or giveaway), you agree to be bound by and follow these terms and conditions:
- You agree that you are either at least 13 years old, or you have the permission of a parent or guardian to use this website.
- We understand that the name you choose to use on our website or submit with a competition entry, may be an alias or pen name (for young authors, this can be a good way to help protect your privacy), but you understand that we will treat that name like your real name, including when we provide credit to the author of a winning story.
- You agree that any written work that you submit to us as part of a competition or giveaway, is your own original work, written by you and not copied from or written by another person. (No AI work permitted.)
- You agree to not submit any written work to us that promotes or encourages violence, racism, self-harm, or any other activity that is either illegal or potentially damaging to other people.
- You keep all intellectual property rights to any of your own written material that you submit to us, but you agree to give us the right to display your work on our website as part of the services we provide. (For example, displaying competition winners and honourable mentions.)
- We reserve the right to judge competition entries at our sole discretion, and will award the winning entry based on whatever criteria we think to be fair.
- We reserve the right to exclude from competition, any entry that we feel goes against the spirit of the competition, or breaches one of our other conditions, like plagiarism.