Lowther Hall Nora Collisson Centre (Library): All about Creative Writing

This competition is open to high school students around Australia as we aim to ignite a passion for creative writing and inspire the voices of the future. Entering the competition is free and all entrants will have the chance to share in over $3000 worth of cash prizes!

The Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers is an annual developmental award open exclusively to Australian secondary school students across the nation. The prize recognises excellence in three categories: fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. As well as prize money, category winners will have their work published on the Express Media website and their names & an acknowledgement printed in Voiceworks, Australia’s premier youth literary journal. Shortlisted writers will be invited to participate in a writing masterclass with a published author.

The Catalyse Nonfiction Prize is a unique development award to foster talented writers aged 30 and under writing longform nonfiction. Entries between 5,000 and 10,000 words are welcome across all nonfiction genres, including memoir, journalism, essay, and creative nonfiction. Shortlisted writers receive an invitation to an exclusive craft development masterclass with some of Australia’s best nonfiction writers, personalised feedback on their entry from the judges and a generous selection of new-release books from publishers including NewSouth Publishing, Black Inc and Scribe Publications. The winner receives a cash prize and an editorial mentorship to develop their work.

Since 1984, the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards – a national competition – has provided children from K-12 an opportunity to write their own poetic masterpieces. Poems must be no longer than 80 lines. There are a range of different award categories (including "Junior Secondary" for years 7-9 and "Senior Secondary" for years 10-12) and lots of prizes available - secondary school winners receive $500, a trophy and a prize pack!

The Somerset National Novella Writing Competition is open to all Australian high school students. Entrants are required to write a novella between 8,000 and 20,000 words. It is a wonderful opportunity for serious student writers, encouraging them in their literary growth - and there are also some fantastic prizes on offer!

This annual competition is open to all Australian students aged 9-13, and has two different categories:
- Children’s Picture Book category: A short, structured story to 250 words, fiction or non-fiction (no illustrations required)
- Children’s Short Story category: A work of short fiction between 850 and 1000 words
The winning stories will be professionally illustrated and published, and both shortlisted writers & winners receive prizes!

An independent magazine for young women that aims to provide intelligent, thoughtful content for their equally intelligent and thoughtful readers. Lip aims to provoke thought – thought about anything at all, be it fashion, feminism, films, food, the future or the present.

Voiceworks is a national literary journal that features exciting new writing and art by young Australians. It is a unique opportunity for people under twenty-five to publish their fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art and comics. Each selected piece goes through a collaborative editing process, and individualised feedback is provided for all unsuccessful submissions.

frankie magazine is a bi-monthly Australian magazine, featuring music, art, fashion, photography, craft and other cultural content. frankie accepts unsolicited art, photo and story submissions.

Having trouble getting started with a story? Try kick-starting it with a random first line.

This tool aims to help you develop a storyline. When you click the buttons, they will generate two characters, a setting, a situation and a theme.

This writing prompt aims to get you thinking outside the box. When you click the button, eight words are generated: a mixture of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Why not take the first word and use it in a sentence, then keep working the rest of the words into your story as it progresses? Or try to include as many words as possible in one sentence?