Name: Author of Tomorrow
Category: Short story (adventure writing only)
Word count: between 500 and 5000 words (based on age and submission category)
Entry fee: Free
Prize: between £100 and £1000 (based on submission category)
Closing date: April 30, 2021
The Author of Tomorrow is part of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. It is an annual competition designed to find the adventure writers of the future. It is open to young people, aged 21 and under, who have completed a short piece of adventure writing in English.
The award is run in partnership with Worldreader, a charity on a mission to make everyone a reader. Written by young people, for young people to read, and judged by a panel of young readers, the Author of Tomorrow plays its part in improving global literacy levels.
Before you enter, read their definition of adventure writing here and read the details below to be sure you enter the relevant age category. It is required that you enter the category relevant to your age at the time of submission.
Category 1: age 16-21 years
Prize: £1,000
Young writers must submit a short adventure story between 1500-5000 words in length.
Category 2: age 12-15 years
Prize: £100 plus £150 in book tokens for their school, library or charity of choice
Young writers must submit a short adventure story between 1500-5000 words in length.
Category 3: age 11 and under
Prize: £100 plus £150 in book tokens for their school, library or charity of choice
Young writers must submit a short adventure story up to 500 words in length.
Submission guidelines:
- The competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
- Submissions must be within the word count specified above.
- You may submit multiple works. Each entry must be submitted separately and will be considered a separate entry.
- Entries must be submitted digitally, as a Microsoft Word .doc or .docx. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about file type.
- There must be no reference to the author’s name or personal details in the manuscript.
- If your entry is shortlisted it will be published by Worldreader and used to improve global literacy levels.
They reserve the right:
- to disqualify any entry if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the entrant has breached any of these rules. They cannot accept any responsibility for any damage, loss, injury or disappointment suffered by any entrant entering the competition.
- to amend these rules where it is deemed necessary to do so or where circumstances are beyond their control.
- to not award the first prize, where circumstances are beyond their control, or if the judges’ overall verdict is that the level of entries is not up to the required standard.
To enter the contest, visit The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation
Find other writing contests here
