The competition for 2024 is now closed.

Children’s Short Story Guidelines

Write a short story 500-1000 words
Any subject
The story must be fiction and all your own work.
The story must meet the conditions of entry
and follow the guidelines published on the website.
The winner will receive $100
and have their story published on the Story Links website.
Deadline: 13 September
Shortlist announced: 13 October
Winner announced: 3 November

Make sure you read the conditions and guidelines before you enter.

Coordinated and Judged by Yvonne Mes, Claire Monsour and Sophia Beros from the WriteLinks team.

Terms and Conditions of Entry

• The competition is open to all children living in Australia.
• Competition closes midnight 13 September 2024.
• The entry should be 500 – 1000 words.
• All entries must be submitted online via the submission form.
• It must be the child’s original work.
  Note: all entries will be checked for plagiarism including for use of AI generated stories.
• Entries should not have won any other competition at the time of entry and should not have been published in any form.
• Entries that have been submitted to this competition previously should not be resubmitted.
• The judge/s reserve the right to not award prize money if none of the entries fulfill all set criteria, and/or do not meet the quality sought by the judging panel.
• Copyright remains with the author with first publication rights to Story Links.
• Failure to abide by the rules will result in an entry being rejected.
• Submission acknowledges that information relating to this competition has been read, that it is understood, and all conditions are met.
• The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Instructions

• Save the story with a file name that is the same as the story. If the story is called “Out of this world” then the document should be named “Out of this world.pdf”
• Stories should be saved as a PDF and not word or image files.
• Each page should be numbered with title in a header.
• Entries should be in Times New Roman at 12 point double spaced.

Submit entries via this online form (CLOSED FOR 2024)

Guidelines

• The story should have a clear structure of beginning, middle and end.
• Stories should not be sectioned into chapters – stories requiring chapters are not short stories.

What the judges look for

• Ideas – creativity, imagination, originality
• Expression – wide range of accurately used vocabulary, fluently expressed sentences, range of sentence patterns, rhythm and flow
• Structure – tightly controlled structure showing a clear beginning, middle and end with connections within and across the text. Open ended stories are OK but no “to be continued” or “I woke up and it was all a dream”
• Grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing should follow conventions or could be used creatively if it works within the story.

Enquiries: email competitions-children@booklinks.org.au

My Checklist

• • My file is saved as a pdf
  • File name is the same as my story eg if the story is called “My Holiday” then the file should be named myholiday.pdf
  • It is between 500 and 1000 words
  • Each page is numbered with the title in the header
  • It is in Times New Roman at 12 point double spaced