As a writer, you can express your thoughts and feelings on any topic. Why not enter a writing contest for a chance to win scholarships and financial awards? These contests not only provide a platform for your voice but also help you build valuable skills that can propel your writing career and academic success.

Prestigious writing competitions offer students a chance to boost their confidence in various genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay writing. These contests also help students build professional writing skills and business connections through scholarship grants, internships, and mentorship.

Here, we will explore writing contests for high school students, and many of these high school writing contests are open to you, even if you are a freshman! Before delving into the list of competitions, let’s first get to know what this writing is.

What Is the Most Prestigious Writing?

The most prestigious writing generally refers to works that have had a significant impact on literature, culture, or society and are highly regarded for their artistic quality, originality, and influence. In terms of awards, prestige often varies by genre, audience, and region, but here are some of the most esteemed writing forms and accolades:

• Nobel Prize in Literature
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• Booker Prize
• National Book Award
• Hugo Award
• Edgar Award
• PEN/Faulkner Award
• Man, Booker International Prize
• Costa Book Awards

10 Prestigious Writing Competitions for Students in 2025

Ready to spark your creativity and gain recognition? Check out our list of the top 10 creative writing competitions for 2025! These contests offer a fantastic opportunity to transform your ideas into compelling stories and poems or write a winning essay, all while earning the recognition you deserve.

1.     Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is one of the most prestigious writing competitions. The Poetry Society has organised this contest since its beginning in 1998. The honour has garnered thousands of entries worldwide. In addition to recognition, it offers publication, workshops, and extremely valuable mentoring.

Literacy Hive documented that each year, two distinguished poets select 15 winners and an additional 85 commendations. It drew more than 6,600 11-17-year-olds who wrote poems for its 2024 competition from over 17,000 poems. The contest attracted young poets from 113 nations, including UK-based poets from Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, among the hundreds of thousands participating.

Effects and Benefits of the Contest

• The winning poets then get individual coaching from more experienced poets to refine their craft.
• Winners are admitted to poetry workshops and events and, hence, have access to a networking forum of experts and peers.
• The prize-winning students gain fame early in their careers by sending their anthologies to libraries, schools, and global poetry lovers.

2.     BBC Young Writers’ Award

One of the most prestigious writing competitions is The BBC Young Writers’ Award, in partnership with Cambridge University. It allows young students across the UK aged between 14 and 18 years to submit up to 1,000-word short stories. Moreover, BBC Radio 4’s competition provides students with a platform to win, develop emerging talent, exposure, criticism, and engage with literature.

Award and Opportunities

• The prize-winning writer receives an impressive amount of publicity through BBC Radio 4 and the BBC website.
• Every finalist is invited to the BBC Short Story Award Ceremony, in which he can interact with literary stars and professional writers.

3.     Bedford Writing Competition

The Bedford Competition, an independent, not-for-profit organisation, conducts annual, open international competitions for poetry and short stories. It is open to everyone above the age of 17. This prestigious writing competition attracts aspiring writers and students who want to showcase their writing talent in various styles.

Additionally, the contest encourages creative writing by presenting poems and short stories to a broad audience, providing winners with exposure to literature at large. The winning and shortlisted poetry and short stories are published as an anthology, and there are prizes worth £4,600.

4.     The Young Walter Scott Prize

Through this prestigious writing competition, we are dedicated to fostering interest in the art of writing and history among individuals aged 11 to 19. We are the only creative writing award in the UK devoted to aspiring authors of historical fiction. A £500 travel grant, UK writing competition entry, and anthology inclusion are available for stories between 800 and 2,000 words.

Furthermore, the prize aims to encourage young writers to take an interest in literature. This contest was named in honour of Sir Walter Scott, who founded historical fiction and improved their skills in narration.

5.     Creative Writing Ink Competition

The Creative Writing Ink Competition is an annual event that invites writers of all ages, including students, to showcase their artistic talents. This contest welcomes a wide variety of genres, allowing contestants an opportunity to express their unique voices and narrative skills. The more you write, the stronger your voice will be. Your voice is a way of communicating your personality to the reader. So, students should employ unique voices to showcase who they are and what they think.

Among the most prestigious competitions, this contest offers young writers a chance to gain recognition, enhance their skills, and potentially win awards due to its friendly atmosphere and quality writing focus. Additionally, stories need to be 3000 words long and in English. They do not fall under any particular theme or genre. Depending upon the competition, winners in each category receive cash rewards of up to £1000.

6.     Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition

It is one of the most prestigious writing competitions in the UK, run by the Poetry Society. Every year, this contest presents poets with a platform for their skills and is open to both experienced and rising poets, including students who are at least 18 years old.

In addition, the competition encourages writers to explore various styles and themes, with each poem submitted costing £5 after the first submission. Poetry Society members receive an additional free poem, and the competition offers cash prizes, publication, and public reading for emerging poets.

7.     The Tower Poetry Competition

One of the prestigious writing competitions offers the prize among all UK-based awards for young poets. Entry to the competition is free for students between 16 and 18 who attend a UK school. The Christopher Tower Student and two guest judges, who change annually, review the tournament anonymously.

Every year, a theme is chosen to allow participants to interpret it however broadly they see fit. There is a prize for the best single poem on this theme of £5,000, with a second award of £3,000 and a third award of £1,500. Ten runners-up will receive £500 each. In addition, the top three finalists will be offered the opportunity to attend the Tower Poetry Summer School.

8.     The Orwell Youth Prize

The Orwell Youth Prize is an award by Britain’s own “Big Brother” inspired to encourage and promote new generations of young writers in politics. George Orwell’s writings and ideals inspire the widely praised Orwell Youth Prize. One of the prestigious competitions’ themes encourages the creativity and critical analysis of 12 to 18-year-olds. The students interact with political, social, and cultural concerns.

This contest is open to all young writers in the UK. It challenges participants to think about the world by writing about it in poetry, essays, stories, or journalism. In addition to developing an ability to write, the prize encourages critical thinking and civic awareness in children to enable them to speak for change.

9.      Henrietta Branford Writing Competition

In addition to the Branford Boase Award, there is the Henrietta Branford Literary Competition, which is specifically a literary contest for young people aged 8-18 years. The last year’s winner of the Branford Boase Award picks a theme or an opening paragraph that the young writers are encouraged to use as inspiration for their entries. For the 2025 competition, young writers are encouraged to submit a poem, short tale, or song lyrics about a character with “presence.”.

Moreover, the writing task for 2025 appeals to students’ different identities and lives, through which Brown inspired the 2023 Branford Boase Award winner for authorship, Ellie Pillai.

Nathanael Lessor’s winning book “Steady for This” will be the inspiration for the 2025 competition title, to be unveiled in January 2025

Schedule

• The competition commences in February.
• The deadline for entry is the end of May.
• The winners will be announced in July.

10.  Olympian Society Short Story Competition

The Olympian Society Short Story Competition asks students to tell stories by letting their creativity shine. Students over 16 are eligible to enter the contest. They should write their stories in English, although it does accept entries from other countries. They should be fiction. There is no word limit, but the story itself, with its title, must be more than 2,500 words.

Participants must submit work that is entirely original and unpublished, both online and in print. This competition encourages members to grow as writers and establish their voices within a supportive literary community. Many students seek help from professional essay writing companies to express their individuality and improve their chances of success. This annual competition aims to cultivate a love for creative writing while developing strong narratives and critical thinking skills.

 Conclusion

The most prestigious writing competitions help writers develop their skills while receiving recognition and being active in the world of literature. Such contests encourage young writers to showcase their perspectives, foster creativity, and explore new genres, potentially opening doors for future careers in writing.

The writing, as mentioned earlier, contests for 2025 help great young writers improve and perhaps get noticed. Contests provide opportunities for students to connect with peers who share their interests, receive constructive feedback, and explore their creativity. Ultimately, this can have a huge impact on their academic and professional futures; thus, entering writing contests is worthwhile.