A Children's Story Writing Competition Judged by the Rules of the Form
Quick answer: Writory's children's story writing competition is for writers aged 13 and over who write for young readers: original stories of 100 to 3,000 words, judged blind against a published five-part rubric that reads a children's story as a children's story. Entry is $8, the deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
Stories written for young readers enter Writory's short story contest for $8, with a deadline of 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant aged 13 and over receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100.
Who this page is for, and who it is not
This is a contest for stories written for children, not a contest for children. Writers must be 13 or over; a 15-year-old writing a bedtime story for her brother is exactly who it suits, and so is a grandfather who has been telling the same tale for years and has never written it down. A ten-year-old's story cannot be entered, however good. Teen writers entering their own work for adult readers have a separate page at /writing-contests-for-teens.
There is no children's category on the entry form. A story for young readers goes into the same round as everything else, through /submit-story, and is read blind. That is not a disadvantage. The rubric scores each story against what it set out to do, so a story for six-year-olds is marked as a story for six-year-olds: does it hold a listener, does its child protagonist want something, does the ending land where the opening pointed.
How the five marks read a children's story
Character & Emotional Impact (25) is the whole game. Children read for a character who wants something they recognise, a lost toy, a fair turn, a friend who has moved away, and who solves it themselves. The adult who steps in to fix things is the most common reason a children's entry loses this mark. Storytelling & Structure (25) rewards the shape a child can feel: three attempts, a turn, a satisfying close, often with a return to where the story began.
Language & Craft (20) is scored on the read-aloud. Sentences for young readers have rhythm or they fail, and the judge will hear it. Originality & Voice (20) is not about a strange premise; Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is a rabbit in a garden. It is about a voice that is unmistakably one person's. Impact & Resonance (10) is the child asking for it again. The full rubric is at /short-story-judging-criteria.
Craft notes for writing for young readers
Decide the age of your reader before the first line, because it sets everything else. A picture-book text runs around 500 to 1,000 words and every sentence must survive being read aloud thirty times; an early-reader story runs 1,000 to 2,000; a middle-grade story can use the full 3,000. Your entry is prose only, so the words must carry what pictures would carry in a printed book. Do not staple a moral to the end. If the story has one, the child has already found it.
The masters are mostly public domain. Rudyard Kipling's "The Elephant's Child" from the Just So Stories is a lesson in sound. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling" is a lesson in earned endings. Oscar Wilde's "The Selfish Giant" is under 2,000 words and has made adults cry for over a century. Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad stories are the best model for a story under 1,000 words with a real emotional turn. Roald Dahl showed that children like their stories with teeth.
Fee, deadline and what every entrant receives
The first contest runs from 1 September to 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 30 November 2026. From December the contest is monthly: entries close on the 25th, results on the 30th, and the next round opens the moment they land. Entry is $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, each judged and scored on its own. The top story of the round takes $100 and free entry to the next round. Every entrant receives a certificate and all five marks out of 100, and writers keep all rights, so a story scored here can go on to an illustrator or a publisher afterwards. The certificate does not label the age of the intended reader.
The published rubric, 100 points
- Storytelling & Structure (25 points): Does every scene cause the next, and does the ending pay off the opening?
- Character & Emotional Impact (25 points): Do we want something with your character, and does the story make us feel it?
- Language & Craft (20 points): Clean, deliberate prose: rhythm, precision, and nothing wasted.
- Originality & Voice (20 points): The angle only you could write, told in a voice that sounds like nobody else.
- Impact & Resonance (10 points): What the story leaves behind after the last line.
How it works
Submit an original story of 100 to 3,000 words by 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive on 30 November 2026: every entrant receives a certificate with their name and a score out of 100. Writers keep all rights. Monthly winners earn free entry to the next round. Enter at https://writoryofficial.com/submit-story.
Common questions
My child is 11 and wrote a story. Can they enter?
No. The contest is open to writers aged 13 and over, with no exceptions for younger entrants. This page is about stories written for children, by writers who meet the age rule. A 13-year-old writing for younger siblings is eligible; an 11-year-old is not, and the rule is applied at entry.
Is a story for young readers eligible in a general contest?
Yes. Any genre and any intended readership enters the same round, and the rubric scores each story against what it attempts, so a story for six-year-olds is marked as one. The only rules are 100 to 3,000 words, original work, and age 13 or over for the writer.
What does it cost to enter a children's story?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, paid online at /submit-story before 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Each story is judged separately, so entering a picture-book text beside a middle-grade story shows which age band your voice suits. The fee is the same for every length.
What does the certificate and score record?
Every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, split into the five published marks. For children's writers the useful pair is Language & Craft against Character & Emotional Impact: a high first and low second means the story reads aloud beautifully and the child in it does not yet want anything.
Is there a word limit, and how long should a children's story be?
Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words. Picture-book texts sit near the low end, often under 1,000 words; early readers run 1,000 to 2,000; a middle-grade story can use the full range. Enter the length your reader's age demands, not the length the contest allows. A padded picture-book text loses Language & Craft marks fast.
Can I include illustrations, or write in my own language?
Entries are text only; the judge reads prose, so the words must do what pictures would. Any language is accepted, and each story is read in its own language in one pool, so a children's story in Marathi, Filipino or Spanish is judged on the same five dimensions as one in English.
More story contest pages
About Writory
Writory (writoryofficial.com) is an international monthly poetry contest founded in 2025 by Shivay Mehra. Poets from 31 countries have entered, readers come from over 150 countries, and every submitted poem is judged and scored out of 100 across five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance. Every entrant receives a certificate; winners receive cash prizes and are published by name. Entries close on the 25th of each month and results are announced on the 30th. Writory is listed by Duotrope, Poetry Kit, Christopher Fielden's competition list and Creative Writing NZ, among other organisations. Past results are public at past winners and the leaderboard.