The 2020 National Child Writes Competition
Cancelled this year!
We are beside ourselves having tried so many different approaches to promote this competition, but honestly, schools and families are simply up to their eye-balls trying to deal with all that is covid-19... As much as we wax-lyrical about the work we do with The Child Writes Fund (they get 100% of the entry fee!) it is simply not the right time to be asking for money, irrespective of the prize.
SO... instead of a competition this year, we are doing the absolute opposite!
If you happen upon this page, having googled for 'competitions' or opportunities for your primary school aged children, please have this instead...
FREE ACCESS TO OUR ONLINE PROGRAM
Write your own book!
Meet the amazing volunteer judges
Jenny Graham
Jenny Graham is passionate about education and helping children reach their potential. Her website AbcJenny focuses on developing children’s writing and reading skills, through stages not ages.
She has 20 years Primary Teaching experience and is currently working as a Literacy Specialist for a Specialist School. She has worked in a variety of school settings; mainstream schools, remote Indigenous Community, mining town, and country schools. She has taught students from aged 4 to 16 and specialises in Student Welfare and Literacy.
Jenny is an Educational Consultant and Writer for DSP Learning, creating teacher worksheets and phonics based stories for their iPad app, Oz Phonics.
She writes educational reviews of children’s books and creates Teacher Resource Booklets linked to the Australian Curriculum. Flying Turtle Publishers in America have published Jenny’s resources in their early readers. Her love of children’s literature she shares with her two sons. Story telling is a part of their life, whether they are fishing, at the beach, driving to school or on one of their many weekend adventures.
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Terms & Conditions of Entry
Renee Price
Renee Price is a children’s author, songwriter and entertainer from Newcastle, New South Wales. She began taking her passion for writing seriously, in 2010, after teaching in early childhood and primary school settings for eight years.
In 2012, Renee held the role of Editorial Coordinator at Newcastle’s Child magazine, working within various aspects of the publishing industry, including reviews of children’s books and music, and composing articles for the publication. In December 2014, she released her first picture book; Digby’s Moon Mission, through her brand, Create It Kids, and has produced a dramatisation of the story, incorporating song, storytelling and some puppetry, too! Renee performs for audiences aged three to eight, within libraries, early childhood services and primary school settings.
She has developed a series from her first publication, with Digby’s second book was released in late 2016, and will continue adapting each story for dramatisation.
Renee is a current member of Australian Society of Authors, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Children's Book Council of Australia NSW branch and Newcastle sub-branch.
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Terms & Conditions of Entry
Romi Sharp
Romi Sharp is an early childhood and primary teacher, blogger, writer, reviewer, mum of two and compulsive reader of all things picture books! Her reviews have appeared in several literary publications, including CBCA's Reading Time, Junior Books + Publishing, Boomerang Books Blog, Creative Kids Tales and her own blog, My Little Story Corner, that aims to foster a love of reading through fun and educational curriculum activities relating to current picture books.
Romi is also the founder and director of the writers' online support group, Just Write For Kids, an Australian community of emerging and accomplished authors and illustrators offering encouragement and resources to assist publication journeys.
Particular teaching roles such as Reading Intervention, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Art have played a part in the way she experiments with words, ideas and perspectives when writing stories.
She lives in Melbourne with her husband, two daughters and fluffy dog, who all certainly keep her on her feet!
Website: Facebook: Twitter: Pinterest: Just Write For Kids Blog: JWFK Facebook Group: JWFK Facebook Fan Page: JWFK Twitter:
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Terms & Conditions of Entry
Jackie Hosking
Jackie is a lover of rhyme and meter. Her poetry and stories in verse have appeared all over the world. Her rhyming picture book The Croc and the Platypus (an Australian reimagining of Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat) was shortlisted for 2015 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards and appears on the 2015 Premier’s Reading Challenge Booklist. Jackie is a member of The Australian Society of Authors, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and The CBCA.
She is also a Books in Homes role model. Jackie has been teaching rhyme and meter to poets of all ages for over ten years and her Meter Matters workshop has toured throughout regional NSW thanks to The Dorothea Poetry Awards.
Jackie is also the curator of the 'must have' industry eZine "Pass It On"
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Terms & Conditions of Entry
Still curious? Check out the work from previous winners.
2013 winners Kate McCullough and Charlotte De Laine teamed up to create the very successful The Lost Calf and The Messy Incident by Grace Benedetti and Veronica Perez-Torres was created in the same year.
The 2014 winners Jayde Rumoro and Abby Johnstone have been flat out as they elected to print their book in hardcover and had book launches in Sydney and Melbourne for Mitten the Kitten.
In 2015, Keagan Wallace and Ali Coburn, successfully launched their book A Crash of Rhinos, with proceeds being directed to the International Anti-poaching Foundation and it is now available at the Adelaide Zoo.
As for the 2016/17 winners Kye Burns and Annabelle Lynch, they created Full Moon Rising, and Nina Richards and Ava MacCuspie created Sleepless Nights. Now it is up to last years winners Luke Harper as he works tirelessly on his own book, and Emily Wang is illustrating a powerful story from Amy De Malmanche. The 2019 winners Amy Cetinich and Allegra Clarke begin work on their book soon!
All books are available for purchase (print on demand) on request
email:
Kate McCullough & Charlotte De Laine
2013
The Lost Calf
A small calf was standing in a sea of grass in the middle of a moonlit paddock.
Where is her mother? How will she survive? What of the hungry dingo that waits in the shadows?
The Lost Calf is an enchanting tale about an orphaned calf who finds a friend.
Jayde Rumoro & Abby Johnstone
2014
Mitten the Kitten
Mitten the kitten is fiesty and fabulous and knows her own mind. When she gets distracted, however, she finds herself entering a world she had never imagined existed.
Keagan Wallace & Ali Coburn
2015
A Crash of Rhinos
Ubejane's crash is in trouble. The poachers seem to be winning, that is, until Ubejane comes up with a few tricks of his own to keep the away.
Kye Burns & Annabelle Lynch
2016
Full Moon Rising
When the full moon rises, the falcons in the Australian outback come together to discuss their problems. Falons are organised birds and they believe there is safety in numbers. Yet, they also believe anything new or different could be dangerous and is to be feared.
Blaze hoped he would never stand out.
Nina Richards & Ava MacCuspie
2017
Sleepless Nights
She can't sleep, and something seems to stop her. A mysterious hawk keeps showing up. Could they be connected somehow?
Luke Harper - writer and illustrator
(Amy De Malmanche & Emily Wang also won the competition in
2018, and have withdrawn from the mentoring opportunity)
2018/9
Pigeons and Popcorn
Jimmy and his friends are known as 'The Flock' and usually spend their days playing and eating. When a horrible eagle steals their sacred popcorn, they are indeed startled in to action.
To find our more about our previous winners, please go to our Winners page
We would love to give children all over Australia the opportunity to uncover their writing and artistic skills through the National Child Writes competition again this year. Please help us to spread the word by downloading the images below and sharing them with your school, social networks, websites, community noticeboards, or with children you think have a voice that the world needs to hear.
SPECIAL MENTION and a BIG THANK YOU IN ADVANCE...
For the school with the most entries, we are going to send a super-duper book pack that includes our latest books Imagine (with teachers notes) and Slow Down Sarah AND Child Writes: Creating Children's Picture Book is Child's Play as our way of saying 'thank you!' Sharing the first hand experience of creating a book is something we know fosters a love of literature! This is exciting stuff indeed!
SPREAD THE WORD
Download the Child Writes Competition Banners and Buttons and spread the word
The 2020 National Child Writes Competition
Make sure you have read the t’s and c’s – best place for all the info,
including entry fee and submission guidelines.
This year's amazing guest judges will be looking for originality, creativity and character,
as well as adherence to punctuation and grammatical guidelines for authors and artistic skills for illustrators. (It's about discovering potential, and we aren't overly blown away by polish!)
Child writers will need to submit a story suitable for a children’s picture book, no longer than 800 words. Submissions in WORD DOCUMENT, 12pt Calibri font, NO borders or embellishments necessary.
Child illustrators will need to submit a variety of three full colour A4 sample illustrations, showcasing different characters and settings.
THE OVERALL COMPETITION WILL CLOSE AS SOON AS THE 500th ENTRY IS RECEIVED or at the end of the school year, which ever is first!
Regular updates about the number of entries will be made via www.facebook.com/ChildWrites.
The will be the same platform for announcing a SHORT LIST and the winners will contacted directly by either telephone or email and an announcement by general email and Facebook!
Please note... If you are having difficulty with this form, simply email our team requesting
an invoice and we will ask you to forward the submission by reply email. This is supposed to be a fabulous experience without any angst!
Step 1 - Read the terms and conditions below, then
Step 2 - Choose which competition you want to enter
Terms & Conditions
The Entry Fee $10
The prize: The winning writer and the winning illustrator will be mentored to publication of a collaborative children’s picture book, worth over $1000 each (or total prize pool $2500)
We want your voice to be heard, so this is a fantastic opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas and
abilities in word or artistic form.
The National Child Writes Competition is open
to all 10 year old writers and illustrators.
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The panel of independent judges will be looking for originality, creativity and character, as well as correct punctuation and grammar for writers and consistency of artistic skills for illustrators.
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The competition is open in ROUNDS, one round per term, until we receive a 500 entries or the end of the school year.
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The winning writer and a winning illustrator will be announced via www.facebook.com/ChildWrites and will be contacted directly by either telephone or email.
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Entry fees will be given directly to The Child Writes Fund and all costs associated with the winners prize, including mentoring and the production of the book, is gifted by Boogie Books.
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Child writers will need to submit a story suitable for a children’s picture book, no longer than 800 words. The story must conform to a ‘G’ rating.
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Child illustrators will need to submit a variety of three full colour A4 sample illustrations, showcasing at three different characters and settings.
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Entry is limited to Australian 10 year olds, born in 2010 only.
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The competition is OPEN at the conclusion of the previous competition, and remains so until 500 entries have been received.
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Judging will take place within two (2) weeks of the competition closing.
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All entrants will receive an automatically generated reply email indicating receipt of entry.
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Child Writes takes no responsibility for lost or misdirected entries.
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The work must solely and wholly be that of the entrant.
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A child entrant may enter both the writing and illustration categories. The entry fee must be paid for each category.
If payment isn't received, entries are ineligible. -
There is no limit to the number of entries per child. The entry fee must be paid for each entry.
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All story entries must be submitted as an attachment, in Microsoft Word format Calibri font 12pt. Please, there is no need for borders or embellishments!
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All illustration entries will need to be scanned, low resolution, and submitted by email as PDF documents. In the case of a short list, original illustrations may be requested to be sent by post. Please don't pay for 'professional scanning' - there is no such thing! An A4 colour scan only costs 0.40cents at Officeworks!
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The winners will be notified by phone and / or email on or before two weeks of the competition closing.
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The winner of the writing category and the winner of the illustration category will be teamed together to be mentored through the entire Child Writes process of creating a children’s picture book. They will receive a publishing agreement at the completion of their (a) story or (b) illustrations. Publication is the 100% desired outcome but it can't be guaranteed and is only possible if the story and illustrations are both completed.
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The prize winners need to complete their contribution to a possible book within 12 months of winning the prize.
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Should the prize winner cease communication with their mentor, the prize is not replaced with any other goods or services.
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As an entrant to the competition, you have opted-in to Child Writes marketing database. Be assured the contact information included on the entry form is not to be available to any other organisation and is used to communicate the results of the competition.
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If you selected the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) option, please submit a copy of your payment receipt by email emma@childwrites.com.au
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The promoter is Boogie Books ABN 77 322 342 176.
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Child Writes reserves the right to not accept any entry.
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Child Writes reserves the right to use winning entries for promotional activities in all relevant print and online media at the full discretion of Child Writes.