Grim Tales - competition closed

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Grim Tales uses fairy tales, folklore, myths or legends to inspire your students. Starting with something familiar will give them the confidence to write their own original mini sagas, stories told in up to 100 words.

Use the Inspiration Postcards to kick-start ideas: What does a modern fairy tale look like? Will they write from the villain's point of view, or tell us what happens after 'happily ever after'? Alternatively, students can write an entirely new story, making this competition easy to adapt for a variety of ages and interests.

Check out the video to set the mood in your classroom and introduce the activity. There are loads more free resources - download what you need to create a teacher toolkit which will get your class writing.

Every student will have the opportunity to see their story published in a book, giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment - you'll see their writing confidence soar!

There are also incredible prizes to encourage even the most reluctant of writers to get involved: the top story will win an iPad mini and a trophy, and 4 runners-up will each get £50 and a trophy. Plus the best school will win £1000!

Will your students' stories all end happily ever after? There's only one way to find out. Request as many entry forms as you need and we'll post them out, so you can get your whole school writing!

[Rules] =>

Only one entry per student.
No limit to the number of entries per school.
Teachers please submit your entries together where possible! If more than one teacher is entering, please use one Teacher Entry Form per teacher. They can still be sent together.
Ask your students to write their story, ensuring their name, age and school name are included. Entries can be scribed/typed by an adult if necessary.
Work can be on the entry form, an A4 sheet of paper or typed (on a computer or in the Online Writing Portal).
100-word limit.
If a story starter/ending is used, it must be included in the 100-word limit.
Students' stories must be their own work!
Please note on the entry if there is anything we need to take into consideration when reading the work.
UK entrants only.
Free to enter.
Ideal for 11-18 year-olds, but students outside that age range are welcome to enter.
Copyright remains with the author.

[School Prizes] =>

The school that submits the best overall set of entries will win £1,000 and Young Writers' Award of Excellence!

PLUS every participating school receives a free copy of the book their students feature in!

(Remember, you receive 1 free copy for every 30 entries you submit! E.g. 1-30 entries you receive 1 copy, 31-60 entries you receive 2 copies, etc)

[Student Prizes] =>

The 1st place writer will in an iPad Mini and a trophy.

4 runners up will win £50 and a trophy.

Plus every entrant receives a bookmark and all writers chosen for publication will get a certificate of merit.

(School & student winners will be chosen from entries submitted in the Summer Term 2025. The prizes will be sent in the following term.)

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[Winner Word] => [Schools/Clubs] => Schools [Thumbnail] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1739795725-7589-GrimTales_PageIcon.jpg [Background] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1739795725-25-GrimTales_Background.jpg [Logo] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1739795725-3534-Grim-Tales_Banner-Logo.png [Independent Intro] =>

Grim Tales uses fairy tales, folklore, myths or legends to inspire children and young adults. Starting with something familiar will give them the confidence to write their own original mini sagas, stories told in up to 100 words.

What does a modern fairy tale look like? Will they write from the villain's point of view, or tell us what happens after 'happily ever after'? Alternatively, they can write an entirely new story, making this competition accessible and engaging for all ages and interests.

Check out the video that introduces the activity.

Every entrant will have the opportunity to see their story published in a book, giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment - it can do wonders for their self-belief!

Will their story end happily ever after? There's only one way to find out - get them writing today!

How To Enter

Email your child's entry along with their, name and full address to: competitions@youngwriters.co.uk

Upload their entry at www.youngwriters.co.uk/competitions/enter.

Post your child's entry along with their, name and full address to:

Young Writers SS
Remus House
Peterborough
PE2 9BF

Closing date: 25th July 2025

[Independent Rules] =>

Only one entry per child.
Ask your child to write their story (or an adult can scribe/type it), ensuring their name, age and address are included.
Work can be on the entry form or an A4 sheet of paper or typed.
Stories must be your child's own work.
Please note on the entry if there is anything we need to take into consideration when reading the work.
100-word limit.
UK entrants only.
Free to enter.
Ideal for 11-18 year-olds, but children outside that age range are welcome to enter.
Copyright remains with the author.

[Independent Prizes] =>

The 1st place writer will in an iPad Mini and a trophy.

4 runners up will win £50 and a trophy.

Plus every entrant receives a bookmark and all writers chosen for publication will get a certificate of merit.

(Winners will be chosen from entries submitted in the Summer Term 2025. The prizes will be sent in the following term. Independent entrants are eligible for student prizes.)

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This competition is now closed.

If you have late entries, please email us at competitions@youngwriters.co.uk and we'll do our best to accommodate them.

Open competitions can be found here.

What happens now?

Our editorial team will process the entries and those that meet the competitions criteria will be selected for publication. Letters will be sent out to those selected. Anyone not selected will have the chance to resubmit their work. Winners will be chosen once all the books in the series have been published.

Competition Timeline

Stage	Date	Status
Letters Sent	By 22^nd September 2025	✔ Complete
Books Published	13^th October 2025 - 17^th November 2025	✔ Complete
Winners Announced	19^th December 2025	⏳ Coming Soon

Please note we aim to keep these dates as accurate as possible but can be subject to change.

For more detailed information about your school's entries, please log in (or create) your teacher account here using the email you included on your teacher entry form.