The Great
ROBIN HOOD
Contest of Stories
A just-for-fun Short Story Contest for young writers, ages 9 and up.
Advanced Scribes, ages sixteen to eighteen:
Your task in this great Contest of Stories is in all ways the same as our younger scribes, save in these notable distinctions:
- Your tale may be between 1,000-2,000 words.
- Your reward options differ, if you so choose.
- Your story should be submitted via the form below (to accomodate the larger word count).
TAKE HEED: The content of all tales must be deemed fitting for the younger ones of our merry company, who look with bright eyes to the works of their elder peers.
Submit Your Tale!
If this be your first time joining us, your email shall be added to our merry mailing list – used only to share word of future contests and noble giveaways. You may leave the list at any time with but a single click.
What We Seek:
- A striking beginning to catch the reader’s eye.
- A true Robin Hood spirit – so plenty of adventure, danger, and valour.
- A fine balance of action and dialogue.
- But most of all, a tale well told… so take joy in the telling!
See Notable Details and Conditions of Entry below.
If you’re having technical issues submitting your entry via the form here, please try again using a different device if possible. You can report any problems by emailing us directly at: [email protected]
Notable Decrees & Conditions of Entry
Aside from having their name sung throughout the greenwood, the champion of the Advanced Scribes category shall choose their prize from these worthy options:
Prize Choice #1: Romanov by Nadine Brandes. (Click on the image to learn more.)
Prize Choice #2: An Amazon e-giftcard worth $20USD. (Must have either a USA or NZ/Au Amazon account.)
Prize Choice #3: Your choice of the main contest prizes. Huzzah!
Entry Conditions:
- Entries are open internationally.
- Entries are open to young writers who are 16 to 18 years old and must be their own original work. No AI stories permitted.
- Only one entry per person. (However, siblings may use the same email address.)
- Entries close on Wednesday, May 28th, 2025, and the winner will be announced on June 4th.
- Entries must be between 1,000-2,000 words.
- To enter this competition, you must agree to both these entry and prize conditions, as well as our Privacy Policy and our website Terms & Conditions.
Prize Conditions:
- The book you choose for your winning prize will be a paperback copy.
- The winning story and any Honourable Mention will be posted here on our website.
- The winner will be personally notified by email (and we’ll need to ask for their postal address).
“Will you come with me, sweet Reader? I thank you. Give me your hand.“
― Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Romanov
by Nadine Brandes
My name is Anastasia. The history books say I died. They don’t know the half of it.
Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.
Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.
That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.
(Clean Historical Fantasy with some romance)
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.