KBF Young Writers’ Competition 2025

We’re proud to be running the fourth annual Kingsmead Young Writers’ Competition! Celebrating the talents of young writers across South Africa, the competition is open to all school children aged 6 – 18.

What creative worlds can your pen bring to life?

Topic:

seeds

seeds

roots

roots

bloom

grow

grow

What do you see? We’re inviting you to plant ONE of these words –– seeds, roots, bloom or grow and watch it blossom into a story that captures the imagination and entertains us. Use the word as an inspiration for your story and let your imagination run wild.

You can write about anything, just specify in your title which word you have chosen.

Launch date: Monday 3 February 2025

Closing date: 8pm/20h00, Monday 31 March 2025

  • 1
    Each entry must be an original work, submitted in the appropriate age group category. No adult help, beyond typing it up for younger writers and managing the entry process. Spelling is not as important as creativity. However, please do a spell check!
  • 2
    AI: as the use of AI grows, we are aware that entrants may feel tempted to use Chat GPT to help write their story. Please don’t. We will be checking each finalist entry and contacting relevant teachers to ensure this is the usual standard of work.
  • 3
    Entries must be in English.
  • 4
    No swearing, hate speech or use of inappropriate words in a school environment.
  • 5
    Stick to the word count limit per age category.
  • 6
    One entry allowed per person.
  • 7
    All entries must be received by 8pm/20h00, on Monday 31 March 2023. No late entries will be considered.
  • 8

    We do not accept the following:

    • Poetry
    • Scripts (drama, theatre, film or television)
    • Religious/spiritual themes
    • Horror and extreme violence

The Judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

  • 1
    Entries are made online, under your age group category.
  • 2
    Attach your entry in a WORD Document. Save your name and age category in the document file name, like this:
  • 3
    Save your word document with YOUR NAME, YOUR AGE CATEGORY and STORY TITLE. This is very important, so we don’t lose your entry. FOR EXAMPLE: JaneSmith_AGE8-9_APigCalledBloom
  • 4
    No illustrations or special formatting.
  • 5
    Font size is 12 point in Times New Roman or Arial.
  • 6
    Stick to the word count for your age category.
  • 7
    Don’t forget to give your story a title, which includes your chosen word.

(age category is the age you are when you write your entry.)

Age 6-7
Word Count: Between 50 – 150 words

Age 8-9
Word Count: Between 100 to 250 words

Age 10-12
Word Count: Between 500 – 1000 words

Age 13-15
Word Count: Between 1000 words and 1500 words

Age 16-18
Word Count: Between 1500 and 2000 words

The Prizes

The winners in each age category receive a cash prize, book voucher and publication in an eBook anthology of children’s stories on the Kingsmead Book Fair website. Winners will also receive feedback from a professional writer or editor to guide them on their writing journey.

In addition, a selection of runners’ up stories will appear in the eBook.

Kingsmead Young Writers' Competition 2025 Entry Form

"*" indicates required fields

Child's Name*
MM slash DD slash YYYY
Child's email address
School's province*
Parent/guardian's name*
Accepted file types: doc, docx, Max. file size: 128 MB.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Queries can be sent to: KBFYoungWriters@gmail.com

Please note NO ENTRIES to be sent to this email – they will not be entered.

KBF 2025