The SECRET IDENTITY
Short Story Contest:
A just-for-fun short story contest for young writers, ages 9-16.
Write a story about a SECRET IDENTITY, inspired by one of these picture prompts…
(Click to enlarge)
…Win 1 of 3 amazing books!
Prize Options:
1. Keeper of the Lost Cities – by Shannon Messenger
2. Mystery Book – Vote Below!
3. Mystery Book – Vote Below!

Entries will open in approximately...
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Cast Your Vote!
With Storylights’ competitions, we love giving our winners their choice of paperback book out of 3 awesome titles. Which book would you most like us to include, along with Keeper of the Lost Cities, as a final prize option? (Click on any image to learn more about it.)
Vote below!
Ready to Get Started?
Sign up here and we’ll send you further details on what we’re looking for in a winning story, so you can start writing now! If this is your first time joining us, your email address will be added to our mailing list (which we use to notify you of upcoming contests and giveaways). You can easily unsubscribe at any time.
The Storylights Team:

Amy Bryant
…an award-winning writer of Children’s & YA Fantasy Adventure (coming soon), who loves cheering on young writers.

Thor the Viking Sheep
…Chief Bodyguard and Mascot of Epicness, who dauntlessly watches out for enemies and gives well-meaning (if unhelpful) advice.

Josh Bryant
…master of fancy website stuff, who raises 4 little hobbits with his lovely wife Summer and gives much better advice. (Don’t tell Thor.)
“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.”
– William Faulkner

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
(The Wingfeather Saga Book #1) by Andrew Peterson
Janner Igiby, his brother, Tink, and their disabled sister, Leeli, are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that they love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang, who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice. The Igibys hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.
Full of characters rich in heart, smarts, and courage, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is a tale children of all ages will cherish, families can read aloud, and readers’ groups are sure to enjoy discussing for its many layers of meaning.

The Bark of the Bog Owl
(The Wilderking Trilogy Book #1) by Jonathan Rogers
Courage and a heart for adventure drive twelve-year-old shepherd boy Aidan Errolson. When the bark of the bog owl echoes from the forest across his father’s well-tended pastures, Aidan dreams of wild places still untamed and quests not yet pursued.
Aidan’s life changes forever on the day Bayard the Truthspeaker arrives at Longleaf with an astonishing pronouncement: it is Aidan’s destiny to be the Wilderking, who will ascend to the throne from Corenwald’s wildest places.
Only the Wilderking can balance his people’s civilizing impulses with the wildness that gives Corenwald its vitality. But not just yet. Many trials and adventures will shape the shaggy-headed shepherd boy into the man who can bring the kingdom back to its former glory.
(Inspired by the Biblical story of David)

The False Prince
(The Ascendance Series, Book 1) by Jennifer A. Nielsen

King of Realms
by Britt Asher
Varric has two weeks left to live. That’s the least of his problems.
Twelve-year-old Varric wants nothing more than to save his mom’s life. After all, it’s his fault she’s dying.
But when he breaks into a castle to steal a magical relic that might save her, the relic is stolen right out from under his nose. Even worse, he’s arrested for the theft. Unless he can find and return the missing relic within two weeks, he’ll be executed by a magical explosive on his wrist.
As if that weren’t bad enough, Varric discovers that the relic is actually a key to an ancient prison containing a malicious and powerful creature. Varric’s quest to save himself and his mom turns into a race to keep the prison locked and save all of humanity from destruction.
Join Varric on his quest to save the realms in this fast-paced fantasy adventure novel full of action, magic, and magical creatures!
Perfect for fans of Fablehaven and Keeper of the Lost Cities.
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.