The 2020 National Child Writes Competition
Is now OPEN... to 10 YEAR OLDS ONLY!
We are shaking things up a bit here for the competition and we are only giving you one shot at becoming a published author and illustrator. We also love working with children who are at
one of the most creative stages of their lives...
The Short List will be announced as soon as we reach 500 entries via
and the winners will contacted directly by either telephone or email.
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 (part of a prize pool of $2500 donated by Boogie Books)
Entry fee: Yes, there is an entry fee… $10.
All proceeds will be going one way - to the Child Writes Fund, ensuring we can give the experience of creating stories and books to many many other children in need. Thank you thank you thank you!
The National Child Writes competition is a unique and exciting opportunity to see your name in print! The winning writer will be paired with the winning illustrator, to be mentored (by Emma Mactaggart) through the Child Writes program and to produce what we expect to be an extraordinary book! This book will be published by Boogie Books as both a limited print publication and an ebook with Amazon, and will be promoted and distributed by Boogie Books and Child Writes. Royalties will be paid to the author and illustrator, for book sales that are generated.
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 Australian 10 year old writers and illustrators.
The 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.
Entry Cost: $10 per submission
Further terms and conditions can be found on the entry form.
Meet the amazing volunteer judges
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:
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
Is now OPEN...
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.