The 2025 – 2026 Winchester Rotary
Young Writer Competition

The Rotary Young Writer Competition is organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RGB&I).

There are three stages to the competition, each designed to support and encourage the development of writing skills and for young people to ….

• be creative:
• use their writing skills:
• write with imagination and creativity.

There are three age categories:

• Up to to and including 10 years old
• 11 to 13 years old
• 14 to 17 years old

You must have been in one of these age categories on 31^st August 2025 – see the 2025 – 2026 Competition Information Pack

This year’s theme is “Happiness in nature”.

Prizes

Winchester Competition:  There is a certificate for every entrant and a prize for the winner of each age group at the Local Competition level. The Winning entry from each age group will automatically be entered into The District Competition where it will be judged along side entries from other Local Competitions. The winners in each age group are then entered into the National Final.

National Final:  A Certificate of Participation will be presented to Competitors in the District and National Competitions.

Your task

To produce a handwritten or typed story in prose or poem entitled, “Happiness in nature” which can be interpreted as broadly as the Young Writer wishes and does not need to conform to the dictionary definition of the word.

The entry, which must be legible, could be fiction or non-fiction, as long as it relates to the Theme.

• Prose entries should be up to a maximum of 550 words.
• Poetry entries should be up to a maximum of 40 lines.

No pictures or drawings are to be part of the entry.

All you need to know

Download the 2025- 2026 Competition Information Pack 

How to get involved