Young Writers Contest

Contest Overview

Since 1998, the Lakefield Literary Festival has held a writing contest for student writers called Young Writers at the Lakefield Literary Festival. The contest is open to all high school students attending Peterborough and area schools. A list of the participating schools can be found in our ebook. The contest offers an excellent incentive for young aspiring writers to submit their best writing which is judged with that of their peers.

We invite submissions of prose, either fiction or non-fiction, 500 to 1000 words in length in a topic of the writer's choice. There are two divisions: junior (grades 9 and 10) and senior (grades 11 and 12). There are four winners: junior and senior fiction, and junior and senior non-fiction. We do not accept literary critiques, journalism assignments, or poetry. Eligibility is determined by adherence to the contest rules. Posters go up in the schools at the beginning of February each year. The due date is approximately mid-May.

A gift book is awarded to all eligible entrants. These gift books are generously donated by the publishers of the current year's guest authors. A list of these publishers can be found in the Acknowledgements section of the ebook.

Winning is an unforgettable experience in the career of a young writer. Winners are notified by telephone and by letter. They are guests of honour at the Festival dinner and the Saturday Evening Readings, where they receive a monetary honorarium, a engraved plaque, and books by the current year's guest authors. This takes place in the presence of some of Canada's finest award-winning writers.

In the week leading up to the Festival, the winning stories are published in a special insert in the Peterborough Examiner. The Examiner arranges to have photographs of the winners taken to accompany the stories. In addition, the winning stories are published in the Young Writers at the Lakefield Literary Festival ebook which is updated annually.

Please see the Introduction of the ebook for a history of the contest.