This competition is subject to the Auckland Council Libraries Competition terms and conditions with the following special terms applying as well:
Who can enter
Entry to the competition is open to anyone aged 13 to 18 on the date that competition entries close (1 February 2026).
The following persons may usually not enter the competition and are not eligible to win any prize:
- Anyone not resident in Auckland at the time of submission
- Anyone who works for Auckland Council Libraries and/or in connection with Auckland Council Libraries (for instance contractors, temp workers and volunteers)
How to enter
Entries into the 2025 competition open on 1 August 2025 and close at 11.59pm (NZST) on 1 February 2026.
Entries received after the closing date or not otherwise in accordance with these special terms will not be accepted. Auckland Council Libraries take no responsibility for lost, damaged, misdirected, late, illegible or incomplete entries.
Entrants must submit online. To enter the competition online, entrants must complete the official online entry form.
Text must be typed at 1.5 spacing.
The file name must be the story name.
The author’s name or other personal information must not appear anywhere on the story manuscript. All personal information must be listed only on the entry form.
Entries may not contain any photographs or illustrations.
Once an entry is submitted, the manuscript is final. The entry cannot be withdrawn, and no alterations can be made to it.
Entries must be stories and essays only, with a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 2000 words excluding the title and any page headers and footers.
General terms
Entrants under 18 years of age warrant that at the time of entry they have the permission of their parent/guardian to enter.
There is no fee to enter the competition.
Only one entry per person is permitted. No group entries will be accepted.
Stories must be original works written by an individual author. The competition does not permit the use of generative AI such as ChatGPT.
No entry may have been published, broadcast or submitted to any other writing competition previously. Entries must not be submitted for publication or broadcast elsewhere or entered any other competition until after the winners of this competition have been notified. Appearance online on a public forum or social media platform or in an anthology constitutes prior publication.
Entries that are found to infringe upon anyone’s copyright or are deemed (in the sole discretion of Auckland Council Libraries) to be works of plagiarism will be disqualified from the competition.
Selected entries
Selected entrants will be notified by email on or before 30 April 2026 using the details provided by the author at the time of entry. There will be at least ten (10) selected entries.
Prize
All selected entries will be published in an anthology publication by Auckland Council Libraries. Further, each selected entry will receive a copy of the finished publication as well as a voucher worth $250 redeemable for a wide range of top brands and experiences through GiftPay.
Judging
All submissions will be subject to screening and judging by a panel selected and overseen by the competition organisers.
Judging is conducted blind (i.e. the screening panel and judge/s will not see the name of the author during the judging process).
The judge's decision regarding the winners is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The judging panel may decide to increase the quantity of selected entries to more than ten, which will in turn also be eligible for the prize.
Publication
Intellectual property rights in all entries submitted remain the property of the entrant.
However, in the event your submission is selected for publication in the related anthology, you grant Auckland Council Libraries the exclusive and royalty-free right to publish your work.