A Creative Writing Competition a School Can Enter, One Student at a Time
Quick answer: Creative writing competitions for schools usually reward one pupil and tell the rest nothing. Writory's monthly short story contest is open to any student aged 13 or over, entered individually at $8 a story of 100 to 3,000 words, judged blind, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 across five published criteria.
For teachers: any student aged 13 or over enters individually at $8 a story, entries close on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every student receives a certificate and a score out of 100 with all five marks on 30 November 2026, not just the winners.
How a class enters, who pays, and what a teacher should not expect
There is no school registration for the story contest and no batch upload. Each student aged 13 or over enters at /submit-story under their own account, submits their own story of 100 to 3,000 words, and pays $8 at the point of submission, through PayPal in US dollars outside India. In practice a parent pays, or the student does. A teacher's role is to set the deadline, read the rubric with the class and get out of the way.
Students under 13 cannot enter; the floor has no exceptions, so a mixed Year 8 class will have some pupils who must wait. The deadline is 11:59 PM Indian Standard Time on the closing date; the first round closes on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 30 November 2026. Any language is accepted and read in that language, so a bilingual class need not write in English. There is no school prize, school ranking or class certificate; nothing here is promised that does not exist.
Writory's poetry contest runs a separate inter-school programme, in which a school registers, receives a code and its pupils enter poems under it with the fee handled by the school. No equivalent exists for the story contest, and this page does not promise one. For now the route for stories is individual, and the certificate and score each student brings back are the same as any adult entrant's.
What each student receives, and what it honestly means
Every entrant receives a certificate carrying their name and the contest month, whether or not they place, plus a score out of 100 across five published criteria: Storytelling and Structure 25, Character and Emotional Impact 25, Language and Craft 20, Originality and Voice 20, Impact and Resonance 10. The certificate records entry to a blind-judged international contest. It is not a qualification and not a school award; describe it to students and parents in those terms.
Scores are private to the student. Non-winners' marks are never published, the certificate does not show them, and Writory does not report to schools. A teacher sees a score only if the student chooses to share it, which is worth saying aloud before anyone enters. Judging is blind: no name, school, age or country reaches the judges, so a Year 9 story and a published adult's story are read by the same standard.
Winners take $100 and a free entry to the next round; a student who enters three rounds running earns the Seasoned Quill badge and a free entry with it. Students keep all rights, and entries are not published, so a story can still go into the school magazine or an anthology afterwards. Prize money for a student under 18 can be paid to a parent's or guardian's account.
Craft notes for teaching toward this rubric
The rubric gives 25 marks to character and emotional impact, which most classroom mark schemes fold into a general content band. Teach it directly: a character who wants something concrete by the end of the first page. Give equal time to endings; the Storytelling and Structure mark asks whether the ending pays off the opening, and the twist that undoes the story or the character who wakes from a dream costs students there every time.
Use the 100-word floor. Flash fiction of 100 to 500 words is a lesson-sized assignment and a fully competitive entry, judged on shape and ending rather than scale. Let students choose their own genre; the Originality and Voice mark rewards the angle nobody else in the room had. The Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is free to read and sequenced in the order the rubric weighs things, and /short-story-prompts supplies a starting point for the class that has none.
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
Can the school submit all the entries together?
No. Each student enters individually at /submit-story under their own account and pays $8 at submission. There is no batch upload, school invoice or class rate for the story contest. Writory's poetry contest has a separate inter-school programme with school codes; nothing equivalent exists for stories yet.
What about students under 13?
They cannot enter. The age floor is 13 with no exceptions, and it applies regardless of a teacher's or parent's consent. A class with mixed ages can still study the rubric together and write to the same deadline, with the older students entering and the younger ones keeping their stories for the round after their birthday.
Will I be able to see my students' scores?
Only if they show you. Scores are sent to the student, non-winners' marks are never published, and Writory does not report results to schools. Tell the class this before they enter. Many students will share willingly; the ones who do not have a private baseline to move next round, which is the design.
Is there a school ranking or a class certificate?
No. Every certificate is individual, carrying the student's name and the contest month, and results are published as a dated page of that round's winners. There is no league table of schools and no group award. Teachers who want a class record can keep one from the scores students choose to share.
Can students write in a language other than English?
Yes. Stories in any language are accepted and read in that language, in the same pool, with no translation step. A student who writes more freely in Polish, Punjabi or Spanish should write the story in it; the Originality and Voice mark is looking for exactly the voice a second language tends to flatten.
How much does it cost per student?
$8 for one story, paid in US dollars through PayPal at the point of submission, outside India. There is no student discount because there is no student category. A student who wins enters the next round free, and three consecutive rounds earn the Seasoned Quill badge, which also carries a free entry.
Does entering affect the students' rights to their stories?
No. Students keep all rights, entries are not published, and any wider use of a winning story happens only with permission. A story entered here can go into a school magazine, a local anthology or another competition afterwards on exactly the same terms as before.
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.