Here is a guide that discusses the best writing competitions for children and more.
Writing is a skill and something everybody should know how to do. The best time to practice and learn is in the early stages of life.
The beauty of attending primary school is that it teaches the skills of reading and writing. Kids must learn how to write and perfect good writing skills before adulthood.
Irrespective of your age, you need an audience to attest to your writing skills. For children, the best way to improve their writing skills is to enter a writing contest.
Writing competitions are the perfect event to improve a child’s writing skills. It’s always amazing when a child is rewarded for his or her writing skills. Writing contests are designed to challenge kids to better their writing skills.
It’s satisfying and exciting when kids receive cash prizes for their performance in a writing contest. Well, we will be showing you writing competitions for children and prizes to be won.
Bear in mind that these writing contests are available at different periods of the year.
The Importance of Writing Competitions for Children
We can all agree that children are excellent learners. They learn quickly and absorb every little detail. So a writing contest is an opportunity for children to practice and perfect their writing skills.
Getting involved in a writing contest is beneficial to kids. They get to practice writing in front of an audience and receive a reward for their unique talent.
When children participate in writing competitions, they acquire first-hand experience in competitive writing.
Through competitive writing, children understand the importance of topic selection, deadline and word count.
Deadlines
If you are a student, especially a teen, you need to start the practice of working within the limits. Remember you are in a competition and speed is required.
Participating in these contests can help children improve their writing skills. Contest deadlines are designed to assist children in developing, writing and proofreading the material in time.
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Word Count
Generally, writing contests are known to have a word limit. Expressing an essay or a story in excessive words is not needed. Being precise in expressing words in an essay or a story is a unique writing skill.
Subject Matter
In most writing contests, they will usually ask for a specific type of writing. It could be a short fictional story or a poem.
Writing about a topic is great practice for future writing assignments irrespective if the students find it interesting or otherwise. High school students will not always have an option.
However, practising with various genres will expatiate their writing experience.
Writing Contest Provides an Audience
Writing competitions are designed to challenge and improve the writing skills of children. When a child enters a writing contest, he or she is writing for different audiences. They are writing for real and intended audiences.
Real Audience
During the writing contest, the real audience is responsible for reading or judging the essay, poems and stories of students.
Intended Audience
The intended audience is people you are familiar with. They are the individuals your student composition aims to address and you know most of them.
Just so you know, the intended audience could be children, elected officers, teens, senior citizens, young mothers, or anyone you know.
Knowing that an audience is in a writing contest challenges students to do better. The audience is more like a reminder of why students should showcase their perfect writing skills.
Writing Contests Build Confidence
It’s quite understandable for a student to feel less confident to enter a writing contest. A student may feel he is not good enough to win a writing contest. He may think of himself as not competitive enough to match other students.
It’s important to encourage students to face new challenges. There is always a first time for everything and competing in a writing contest is the perfect way to learn a new experience.
Children should receive all the encouragement they need to face any contest head-on, especially writing competitions.
15 Writing Competitions for Children
Here is our list of writing contests for children and rewards. Keep in mind that these writing competitions are available at different periods of the year.
#1. EngineerGirl Writing Contest
EngineerGirl is a website that sponsors an annual contest. Each year, the website provides an opportunity for young minds to showcase their writing skills.
The website sponsors a contest that deals with engineering and its global impact. Detailed instructions for the contest and topic are always posted in September.
February 1 of the following year is the deadline for submissions. The winners of the contest are announced in the spring.
In the latest EngineerGirl Writing Contest, students were required to write a title showing how female and non-white engineers have positively contributed to engineering.
Children can receive up to $500 as a top prize. If you want your kid to participate in the EngineerGirl Writing Contest, kindly click on the link below.
#2. Bennington Young Writers Awards
Located in Bennington, Vermont, Bennington College is a private liberal arts institution.
The college is popular for its literary legacy. Bennington boasts three U.S. poet laureates, twelve Pulitzer Prize Winners, Four Mac Arthur Geniuses, two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, and New York Times bestsellers.
The Young Writers Awards is an initiative set by Bennington College to promote excellence in writing. The aim of setting up this writing contest is to recognize the writing skills of high school students.
The top prize for this contest is $1,000, while the runner-up will receive $500. Get more information about the Bennington Young Writers Awards via the link below.
#3. World Historian Student Essay Competition
Here, we have an international competition available to students in grades K 12. Whether it’s public, private, or parochial schools, the competition is open to students in grades K 12.
The World Historian Student Essay Competition is also open to students in home-study programs.
To submit your essay in this writing contest, you are not required to be a member of the World History Association.
#4. Seven Hills Literacy Contest and Penumbra Poetry and Haiku Contest
The Seven Hills Literacy Contest and Penumbra Poetry and Haiku Contest is sponsored by the Tallahassee Writers Association each year.
This writing contest is available to English language entries from different parts of the world. It’s one of the best writing competitions for children.
This is the first writing contest on our list that requires a fee of $15. The top prize to be won in this contest is $300.
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#5. The Atom Learning Young Actor Award
The latest theme for the Atom Learning Young Actor Award is “A Day That Changed the World”.
In general, there are two categories in this writing contest. The first category is for kids between the ages of seven and nine, while the second is for those between the ages of ten and eleven.
The top prize for this writing contest is an all-expense trip to Disneyland Paris for a family of four. Other prizes to be won include £2,500 for the child’s school, novels, and professionally illustrated book cover.
#6. Rattle Young Poets
Rattle Foundation is an independent non-profit organization aimed at promoting the practice of poetry.
The organization is interested in teen students. The author of a poem or a story should not be more than fifteen years of age when the title was written. When submitting the poem, the author must not be over eighteen years old.
The top prize for this contest is a publication in Raffle magazine.
#7. Celebration Day Writing Contest
The Celebration Day Competition provides an opportunity for children to meet the oldest person they know very well. Then, the children will have to interview the person and ask a few questions.
The children can ask the person about his greatest inspiration growing up. After that, the children must creatively rewrite that story and the lucky ones are picked out.
To enter this competition, you must be between five and eighteen years old. Teachers are also eligible to participate in this contest regardless of where they live.
The top prize for this contest is a £100 Amazon voucher. There are other prizes to be won in this contest.
#8. Write On” Short Story Contest
The “Write On!” Short Story Contest is an annual contest for those in grades three to five, specifically.
The Last Story Celebration and award ceremony took place in April 2022. It was a fun event as writers and all their family and friends were invited.
#9. Cricket Magazine Contest
Cricket Magazine is a literacy magazine specifically for children. The children’s magazine is published in the United States and was established in 1973.
The Cricket Magazine Contest provides an opportunity for children to have their titles published. As a kid, it would be exciting to have your title published in Cricket Magazine.
Cricket Magazine doesn’t tolerate any form of plagiarism. A student contest entry must be their original work. Your parents or guardian must attest and sign your work. They must provide proof that you are the original owner of the work.
#10. It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest
The Ann Arbor District Library hosted the “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in winter 2022.
This is one of the writing competitions for children where young adults are allowed to participate as judges. The event is hosted each year and the young adult who is judges are allowed to read and select the winning story.
In this writing contest, they judge stories in three different categories. They have a category for students in grades six and eight, nine and ten and grades eleven and twelve.
Prizes are given to the three best writers of each age.
#11. $1000 for 1000 Words Contest
This is a fictional writing contest available to students in grades six and twelve. Each participant in this contest may submit a fiction piece with 1,000 words.
The words in the work you will submit should not be less or more than 1,000 words.
#12. Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
Here is another contest aimed at recognizing and encouraging students with excellent poetry skills.
The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honours and encourages the publication of outstanding poetry work for children as well as young adults.
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#13. Stone Soup Flash Fiction Contest
In the first week of each month in a calendar year, Stone Soup organizes a Flags Contest.
Entrants must submit their work before midnight on Sundays of the same week.
#14. Promising Young Writers Contest
The Promising Young Writers Program recognizes and encourages students in grade eight with excellent writing skills.
Students with writing talents are rewarded with top prizes.
#15. Amazing Women’s Edition Contest
Here, we conclude our list of writing competitions for children.
The Amazing Women’s Edition contest is an initiative set up by the National Youth Foundation for Women in the United States. The contest is available to students in grades K to eight in the United States.
Conclusion
Now you know the best writing competitions for children, you can allow your child to participate in these contests.
As we said earlier, there is always a first time for everything and taking on new challenges is one of them.
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