A writing prize judged by academics — open to anyone with something worth saying.
Every entry is read and ranked by an independent panel drawn from leading Australian universities and joined by academics working overseas. Entry is free. A placing is a credential you can carry into university applications, scholarships and job interviews for years.
There are plenty of places to post a piece of writing. There are very few where academics will read it closely, measure it against the strongest work in your age group, and put their names to the result.
That is what this competition exists to do. No entry fee, no gatekeeping, no requirement to have been published before — just serious assessment of what you actually wrote.
Write something new, or give a second life to an essay or speech you are already proud of. The panel judges the thinking on the page, not the CV behind it.
The people behind the panel
Meet our judges
Six perspectives. A shared belief in young voices. Meet the people reading your work, and explore the experience they bring.
Explore the full judge profiles to learn more about our panel. All entries are assessed within their age bracket using the five criteria below. An additional academic from the Australian National University's School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics will be named when their details are available.
Choose Your Theme
Arts / Entertainment · Sciences · Current Affairs
Your article must connect to one of these three themes. Interpret them as loosely or creatively as you like, as long as the connection is clear. Select the theme that best fits your piece in the entry form.
All submitted articles are published, not just winning entries. Only the byline and other public details you permit will appear alongside your writing. Winners are announced in early April 2027.
How Entries Are Assessed
What the judges are looking for
Every entry is scored against the same five criteria, in both brackets. Nothing here rewards long words or borrowed opinions — it rewards a writer who has thought hard and said something clearly.
Originality & Creativity
Does the piece say something the judges have not already read a hundred times? A familiar subject is fine; a borrowed argument is not.
Clarity & Structure
Is the piece clearly organised, with a coherent argument and a structure that guides the reader from beginning to end?
Writing Quality & Grammar
Clear, engaging language, a confident voice, and careful grammar, spelling and punctuation that support the writing.
Overall Impact
Does the subject matter, and does the writer make the reader care about it? Scale is irrelevant — a school corridor can matter as much as a summit.
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Relevance to Theme/Prompt
Does the piece connect to Arts / Entertainment, Sciences or Current Affairs? A loose connection is welcome, as long as the relationship to your chosen theme is clear.
The Prizes
Two brackets, six placings
Entrants are judged only against writers of a similar age. Each bracket has its own first, second and third place, with prizes of $300 for first, $200 for second and $100 for third. All submitted articles are published on the draftling, not only winning entries, using only the public details you authorise.
The Junior Bracket
Ages 8–15
Primary school through Year 9
1stFirst Place — $300 & publication
2ndSecond Place — $200 & publication
3rdThird Place — $100 & publication
The Senior Bracket
Ages 16–21
Year 10 through university
1stFirst Place — $300 & publication
2ndSecond Place — $200 & publication
3rdThird Place — $100 & publication
Named Awards
Three special citations
Awarded across both brackets, and judged separately from the main placings. Every entry is considered for all three automatically — you do not have to nominate yourself.
The Eco-Voice Award — $100
For the strongest piece on an environmental question — local, national or planetary.
The Deep Dive Award — $100
For the best-researched entry: the one whose evidence survives scrutiny from a specialist.
The Maverick Award — $100
For the entry that goes somewhere nobody else thought to go, and makes the case for it.
What a Placing Is Worth
Something concrete to put on the page
Cash is the smallest part of it. A placing here is an externally judged, publicly recorded credential — the kind of line that carries weight on a university application, a scholarship form, a portfolio or a résumé, precisely because someone other than you decided it.
A credential you can cite
"Second place, Senior Bracket, 2026 Launch Competition — judged by an independent academic panel" is a specific, checkable claim. It says considerably more than "I enjoy writing".
A published byline
Placing entries are published on the draftling under your name, so there is a finished, public piece of work to point an admissions officer or an employer towards.
A permanent public record
Results are announced on this site in early April 2027 and stay there. Anyone who wants to verify the award can find it themselves, years later.
Assessed by people who count
The judgment behind the award comes from working academics. That is what separates it from an internal school prize or an online popularity vote.
The Rules
Submission guidelines
Deliberately few, so the work is what gets judged.
Length
Roughly 600 to 1,200 words. Say what you need to say and stop — padding is visible to a panel that reads for a living.
Subject
Choose Arts / Entertainment, Sciences or Current Affairs. Interpret your theme loosely if you wish, as long as your article has a recognisable connection to it.
School work welcome
An essay, project or speech written for class is entirely eligible. Check your school's rules on republishing your own work, then send it in.
Format
A clear text document — Word, PDF or a Google Doc link. Your own original work, not written or rewritten for you.
Entries Close
December 20th, 2026
Judging begins immediately afterwards. Late entries cannot be considered.
Entering
Three steps, no fee
1
Prepare your piece
Save it as a clear text document — a Word file, a PDF, or a Google Doc set to "anyone with the link can view".
2
Complete the entry form
Your details, your bracket, your theme, and the piece itself. Upload a completed release form if you have it. It takes a few minutes, and nothing is charged at any point.
3
Submit and wait for the panel
Your entry goes straight to the judging pool. Results are announced here, and to you by email, in early April 2027.
Your details and your piece. Entry is free, and every submission goes to the same judging panel.
Questions
Frequently asked
Who actually judges the entries?
The judges listed above assess entries across Arts / Entertainment, Sciences and Current Affairs using our five judging criteria. Any remaining panel details will be added as they become available.
Can I put this on my résumé or university application?
That is rather the point. A placing is an externally judged award with a public, dated record on this site, so it can be listed on a CV, a university or scholarship application, or a portfolio — and verified by anyone who checks.
Does it cost anything to enter?
No — entry is free, in both brackets, however many pieces you send. The draftling is independent, so donations are welcome if you are able to give, but they are never required and have no bearing whatsoever on judging.
Do I need to have been published before?
Not at all, and most entrants will not have been. The panel is given the writing, not a biography. An unpublished fourteen-year-old and a final-year student are read the same way — against the criteria, and against their own age bracket.
Can I submit more than one article?
Yes. If you have several subjects you care about, enter them all — each unique piece simply needs its own entry form. Every one goes to the panel on equal terms.
What style of writing are you looking for?
Opinion, essay, reportage, analysis, a considered rant — the form is yours to choose. What the panel rewards is a clear argument, honestly made, in a voice that sounds like a person rather than a template.
How will the winners be announced?
The panel reviews all submissions over the summer break. Winners are contacted directly by email and announced here on the site in early April 2027, where the results remain permanently on record.
Who owns my work?
You do, always. Entering gives us permission to publish your submitted piece on the draftling under the public byline you authorise, whether or not it places; beyond that, the work remains entirely yours to use however you like.
Entries Close December 20th, 2026
Have it read properly.
Most young writers never get their work in front of someone qualified to judge it. This is free, it takes a few minutes, and an academic panel reads every word.
