Writing Contests for Middle School Students: What Is Open at 13
Quick answer: Writing contests for middle school students are thin on the ground, and most are school-run. Writory's monthly short story contest is open from age 13, so middle schoolers aged 13 and 14 qualify and those aged 11 or 12 do not yet. Entry is $8, judging is blind, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
Writory's short story contest admits writers from age 13, which means seventh and eighth graders who have turned 13 can enter for $8 and receive a certificate and a score out of 100. Younger students cannot enter yet; this page says what they can do meanwhile.
Thirteen is the line, and it is not a soft one
The rule is age 13 and over on the day you enter. In most systems that means the older half of middle school: seventh graders who have had their thirteenth birthday and nearly all eighth graders. A twelve-year-old cannot enter, however strong the story, and a parent should not enter one under their own name to get around it, since the certificate would then carry the wrong name and prove nothing about the child.
For a 13- or 14-year-old the process is the same as for an adult. One original story of 100 to 3,000 words, any genre, entered at /submit-story before 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Entry is $8, paid by card, which at this age usually means a parent pays while the student is logged in; the entry stays in the student's name. Judging is blind, so the reader does not know they are reading a thirteen-year-old.
What a certificate and a score mean at this age
For a thirteen-year-old, the certificate is probably the first document that records them as a writer outside school. It carries their name and the contest month and says they entered a judged international contest. It does not say they won; winners are named separately on a dated results page. Parents should frame it that way at home, because a child who understands the difference between entering and winning has learned something useful.
The score matters more than the paper. Five marks come back out of 100, one for each rubric heading, on 30 November 2026. A student who scores 18 out of 25 for character and 11 out of 20 for language has a map, not a grade, and the next story can aim at the low number. Nobody else's scores are published, so there is no class ranking to worry about, only the student's own line moving from one month to the next.
If you are 11 or 12: what to do until your birthday
Read Story Craft. Writory Academy's six-lesson course at /academy/story-craft is free and open to any reader, with no age gate, because reading about structure and character does not require entering anything. A twelve-year-old who works through the six lessons with a notebook arrives at thirteen knowing what the rubric rewards, which is more than most adult entrants can say on the day they first enter.
Practise with prompts. The prompts at /short-story-prompts are free as well, and a story a week for a year is around fifty stories, which is how the habit forms. Keep the finished ones in a folder with dates on them. When the birthday comes, the first entry should be the best of the pile, revised once more, and the earlier drafts will show how far the writing has come.
Craft notes for a first contest at thirteen
Write a story, not an adventure. The rubric's biggest marks go to structure and character, 25 each, and both reward one person wanting one thing and meeting one obstacle. Begin in the middle of something happening; the first paragraph should not explain who everyone is. Let the character decide something at the end rather than having the problem simply stop, because a decision is what a reader remembers.
Keep it short. There is no reward for reaching 3,000 words, and a clean 700-word story will outscore a padded long one. Use the words you would actually say; Language & Craft is 20 marks and it favours plain sentences that do their job. Finally, have someone read it back to you aloud once, and fix any line that made you wince.
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 12 and a strong writer. Is there any exception?
No. The rule is 13 and over with no exceptions, and entering under a parent's name would put the wrong name on the certificate. The free Story Craft course and the story prompts are open at any age, and a year of practice makes the first entry at 13 far stronger.
Does a 13-year-old compete against adults?
Yes, and blind. There is no junior category, so the story is read with no age attached and scored on the same five criteria as every other entry. That is harder than a school contest and also more honest; the marks that come back are the same instrument everyone receives.
How does payment work for a middle schooler?
A parent pays the $8 by card at /submit-story while the student is logged in. The entry, the score and the certificate all stay in the student's name. If the story wins the $100 prize, it can be paid to a parent's account.
Is anything about my child made public?
Only if they win, and then only their name and story title on the dated results page for that month. Stories are not published, non-winners' scores are private, and the certificate carries the student's name and the contest month, nothing more. No school, age or location appears anywhere.
What does the score out of 100 actually contain?
Five marks against the published rubric: Storytelling & Structure out of 25, Character & Emotional Impact out of 25, Language & Craft out of 20, Originality & Voice out of 20, Impact & Resonance out of 10. All five arrive on 30 November 2026, so the student sees where the story was strong and where it was not.
When is the deadline?
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.
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.