Children’s Short Story Competition

Every year the Daunt Books Children’s Short Story Competition celebrates the wonderful creativity of children’s stories so why not get writing (or typing) and help make this another fantastic year. You might even have your story published, along with the other winners, in a book!
The book of winning stories will have a cover designed by illustrator Laura Carlin and will be introduced by Hiba Noor Khan, author of Safiyyah’s War and her eagerly anticipated The Line They Drew Through Us.
Winners will be announced by 28th March 2025
How to Enter:
If you have a Google account please use the form below. You can upload your file as a PDF or Word document. Alternatively you can email your entry to [email protected] or drop off or post your entry to your nearest Daunt Books, along with your name, full postal address and email.
Please include confirmation that:
- the author of this story is between 4 and 15 years old
- this work of fiction is entirely that of the child
- this story is no more than 1500 words
- typed stories are double-line spaced
- the parent/guardian of the author (child) of this story gives permission to submit this story
School and Multiple Entries:
For teachers submitting multiple entries, please download the Schools entry form here, and submit as a cover sheet with the pupil’s names on each submitted story. You can do this by post, by hand or by email at [email protected]. We ask that you only do so where parents/guardians have given their permission (Please direct them to the Privacy Policy below – here’s a useful link to include in any email : dauntbooks.co.uk/short-story-competition) and where that’s not possible please encourage individual online entry.
Competition Closes 31st January 2025. Good luck!
Competition Privacy Policy
When you enter the competition we record some personal information about you and the child whose entry you are submitting, we take care of this and only use it to administer the competition. We do this with your permission, and if you click on the button below you can read more about this. You can withdraw your entry and permission at any time.
When you enter the competition, we record and use some personal information about you and your child/ a child you are responsible for. With every entry this may include the names and addresses of you and the child whose story you are entering, the child’s age, their school, their relationship to you, and your email and telephone number.
We store this information securely, and we use it solely in administering this competition. We do not use it for any marketing purposes, and we do not share it with any third parties except with your further permission if your child wins and their work and name is published in book form.
You can withdraw your permission for us to keep and use this personal information at any time, and you can correct it if you think we have recorded anything incorrectly. To have your information removed or changed, please email [email protected], or write to The Data Protection manager, Daunt Books, 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QW.
Except in the case of published stories, we will only hold the personal information listed above for 6 months after the closing date of the competition.
Our full Privacy Policy is available here