One way of getting published is to enter your work into writing competitions. Winning an award is the way many top New Zealand poets and writers have started their careers.
New Zealand writing competitions
War Memorial Lest We Forget 2025 Poetry competition
This year, poets are invited to respond to the theme, Resilient Bonds: War’s Human Legacy. The competition is open to all ages. There are three age categories: 18 years +, 12 - 17 years and 11 years and under. Finalists, chosen from each age category will be invited to read their entries inside the Auckland Museum on Anzac Day at 10am. Each finalist will receive a $100 gift card. Entries must be received by 5pm Wednesday 16 April 2025.
Find out more: War Memorial Lest we Forget 2025 poetry competition
Sargeson Prize - short story competition
The Sargeson Prize is New Zealand's richest short story prize, sponsored by the University of Waikato. Named for celebrated New Zealand writer Frank Sargeson, the Prize was conceived by writer Catherine Chidgey, who also lectures in Writing Studies at the University. Entries open on 1 April for the Sargeson Prize and close at 11.59pm (NZST) on 30 June 2025. There is no entry fee, and entries are limited to one per writer, per division. The Open Division is open to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents aged 18 and over who are writing in English. Published and unpublished writers are welcome to enter. Entries must be single stories of no more than 5000 words. They must be original, unpublished pieces of work.
- First Prize: $15,000
- Second Prize: $1,000
- Third Prize: $500
The winning stories will be published by Newsroom in its literary section ReadingRoom, opens a new window.
The Secondary Schools Division is open to students enrolled at a New Zealand secondary school, or home-schooled students, who are aged between 16 and 18 years on the date that competition entries close. Entries must be single stories of no more than 3000 words. They must be original, unpublished pieces of work.
- First Prize: $2,000
- Second Prize: $1,000
- Third Prize: $500
The winning story will be published by Newsroom in its literary section ReadingRoom, opens a new window.
The winner of the Secondary Schools Division will also be offered a one-week summer residency at the University of Waikato, to be taken up in January or February of the following year. The residency will include accommodation and meals at one of the University of Waikato Halls of Residence, a writing space in the School of Arts, and mentoring from postgraduate students and/or academic staff in the Writing Studies programme. If the winner is under 18 years of age, parental consent will be required.
Find out more: Sargeson Prize
National Schools Poetry Award
The National Schools Poetry Award is held annually by Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao | the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), subject to funding. It is free to enter and open to Year 12 and 13 students across New Zealand.
The winner and nine finalists win cash and prizes for their poems, plus an invitation to attend an exclusive masterclass with leading New Zealand poets at the IIML on Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's Kelburn campus
Entries are now open for the National Schools Poetry Award. Entry deadline: 7 July 2025.
Find out more: National Schools Poetry Award
League in Libraries - Rīki i ngā Whare Pukapuka
The Warriors Community Foundation are delighted to launch the League in Libraries programme for 2025. This programme aims to help improve the literacy levels of primary and intermediate ākonga, as they put pen to paper to compose a piece of One New Zealand Warriors themed creative writing. The 2025 competition will have three entry categories:
- Years 4-6
- Years 7-8
- Te Reo Māori
Entries are judged by a panel made up of kaiako (teacher), members of the Warriors Community Foundation, and One New Zealand Warriors staff members.
Three finalists from each category will be chosen, with one supreme winner in each category.
Entries close Friday 13 June 2025
Find out more: League in Libraries - Rīki i ngā Whare Pukapuka
Rainbow Storytelling Competition
As part of the Out of the Shelves campaign in June each year, InsideOUT Kōaro runs a national rainbow storytelling competition to celebrate and encourage budding rainbow, takatāpui and MVPFAFF+ storytellers to share their work. In 2024, they decided to allow young storytellers to submit stories in a wider range of formats and mediums, including text, audio, graphics and video. They want the competition to better reflect the diverse ways we share stories with each other in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
Age categories:
- Under 16
- 16 – 20
- 21- 27
Storytelling categories:
- Open (e.g. prose, short stories, essays, comics, zines, waiata)
- Poetry (e.g. written, spoken-word)
Rainbow Māori and Pacific storytellers could also opt to have their work considered for the Māori and Pacific award category.
The competition will open at the end of May 2025.
Find out more: Rainbow Storytelling Competition
Re-Draft
Re-Draft is a nationally acclaimed collection of teenagers' writing, published each year by Clerestory Press. Any New Zealand teenager can enter their work. Entries can be any creative writing genre and will be judged by award winning New Zealand writers.
Entries close 29 August 2025
Find out more:
Landfall Tauraka Young Writers' Essay Prize
The Landfall Tauraka Young Writers’ Essay Prize is an annual award open to writers aged 16 to 25. The winner receives $1500 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.
The 2026 prize is now open and entries close on 31 March 2026. The prize is judged by the editor of Landfall. The winner will be announced and published in each May issue of Landfall.
Find out more: Landfall Tauraka Young Writers' Essay Prize
Takahē
Takahē runs annual poetry and short story competitions. The Takahē Collective Trust is a non-profit organisation that aims to support emerging and published writers, poets, artists and cultural commentators.
The Matariki Short Short Story Celebration and the Monica Taylor Poetry Prize will both be returning for 2025.
Find out more: Takahē
Closed
These awards are now closed, but will be back later this year or next year.
Write On School for Young Writers - Write On Competition
Write On The School for Young Writers runs competitions. Entries closed 11 April 2025.
Find out more:
Pikihuia Awards
The Pikihuia Awards (formerly the Huia Short Story Awards) is a biennial competition that started in 1995 to discover and recognise Māori writers. The awards encourage diverse Māori viewpoints and writing in both te reo Māori and English. Each award category is open to adults and school students.
- Submissions open: 31 January 2025
- Final submissions due: 30 April 2025
- Finalists announced: July 2025
- Awards ceremony: October 2025
The Cambridge Autumn Festival Short Story Competition
The Cambridge Autumn Festival’s Short Story Competition is now closed.
First prize is $1000, second prize $500, third prize $250. There is no entry fee and no age limit. The word limit is 1500 words. Entries closed 31 January 2025.
Find out more: The Cambridge Autumn Festival Short Story Competition
The Elsie Locke Writing Prize (on hiatus in 2025)
An opportunity for young writers ages 5-13 to develop an original piece of writing for publication inspired by New Zealand history and Elsie's work for peace, the environment, women’s issues, and our community. Submissions can be any writing on a topic - past, present or future - that you think would have been of interest to Elsie. For example: personal narratives, poems, articles, essays, speeches or plays.
Find out more: The Elsie Locke Writing Prize
Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook Student Poetry Competition
Entries are now open for the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook student poetry competition. Entries will be judged by Yearbook editor Tracey Slaughter and the winning poems from each year group will be published in the 2025 edition of the Yearbook. There is a monetary prize for the first, second and third prize winners of each year group, thanks to the University of Waikato: $500 (first place), $300 (second place) and $100 (third place). Each winning poet and their school will also receive a copy of the book.
Entries close 5 July 2024
Find out more: Poetry New Zealand Yearbook student poetry competition
Sunday Star-Times Short Story awards
This annual competition includes a secondary category. Entries close 11.45pm, 7 October 2024
Find out more: Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards
International writing competition
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award
For poems written by any young poet aged 11 to 17. Each year 100 winners (85 commendations and 15 overall winners) are selected by a team of high-profile judges. Free entry.
Find out more: Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.
Other publications to submit your work to
Starling - New writing from young New Zealanders
Starling considers work from New Zealand writers under 25 years old at time of submission. Starling is published twice yearly in February and August. Submissions may be made at any time to be considered for the next issue, so the best time to send your work is when you feel it is ready. The editors will read and respond to all submissions as soon as possible, and in any event no later than 10 weeks following the deadline. The editors are unable to enter into correspondence regarding individual submissions or their selections.
The deadlines for work to be considered for each issue are 10 April for the Winter issue and 10 October for the Summer issue.
- Poetry: send up to six poems.
- Prose: Send up to two pieces, each up to a 5,000 word maximum. Prose may include short stories, creative non-fiction, personal essays or anything else you can surprise us with.
Find out more: Starling submissions.