Creative Writing Success and Opportunities
Congratulations to Taylor Yaldwyn (Year 12) on her Shortlisting for the 2025 Red Room Poetry Competition. Her poem “Renewal” powerfully captures the inspiring and uplifting qualities of the natural world, drawing upon Romantic traditions to capture the notion of transcendence. Her personification of the natural world is particularly evocative, and I loved her description of the way that:
“Against proud moonlight, black branches hug the stars
Their stretching limbs weld into the earth’s rusted heart.”
Her poem can be read here.
We are always keen to encourage our students to submit their work into external competitions. As we move towards the holidays, we wanted to share some of the links below. Many of these websites also have incredible resources for passionate poets and writers.
External Writing Competitions
The What Matters Writing Competition is open to students in Years 5 – 12. This competition asks students to write personally on a topic which they are passionate about. Entries are due by Friday 15 May. More information can be found on their website.
The Mosman Youth Awards in Literature invites writers in Years 7 – 12 to submit poetry or creative fiction pieces. Entries for this competition close on 31 May 2026 and more information on these awards can be found here.
The Dorothea Mackellar Writing Competition is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards for young people. This year’s theme is “The Traveller.” The school has registered an account for this competition and your daughter will be able to check with her teacher about entering before the due date of Friday 30 June. More information can be found on their website.
The Insight Writing Competition is open to students in Years 7 – 12. Students are invited to compose creative pieces (short story, poem, script) of up to 1,400 words. The theme for this year is “Ignite” This competition is open until 1 September. More information can be found here.
Red Room’s Poetry Forest Competition encourages students to compose poems which have a positive message on climate change. This competition is not yet open, however, there are a wealth of resources on the Red Room website and the competition regularly closes in September. More information can be found here.
The Hachette Australia prizes are yet to open for 2026, however, include prizes for Creative Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry. There are wonderful resources that can be found on their website.
The English Department wishes everyone all the best for the Easter break – what a wonderful time to read a book and get back to writing for pleasure!
Jenny Bean
Head of English
