Mayoral Creative Writing Prize

1. Overview

The Mayoral Creative Writing Prize is a chance to showcase and foster the talents of Blacktown City’s aspiring writers.
It is open to adults and children (aged 8 to 17 years), who live in Blacktown city.

Entries close midnight, Monday 29 September 2025. 
Winners will be announced at the presentation ceremony.

Presentation date: Thursday 11 December 2025 at 6 pm to 7 pm.
Venue: Max Webber Function Centre 
Level 1, Corner Flushcombe Road and Alpha Street, Blacktown.

Entries can only be submitted online at westwords.com.au.

Submit entry

2. Competition guidelines and criteria

Welcome to the Mayoral Creative Writing Prize 2025. It is open to adults and children (aged 8 to 17 years) who live in Blacktown city. The poems and short stories must be works of fiction.

Categories

All entries can be either poetry or short stories. They will be judged in the following age categories, 8 – 11 years, 12 – 14 years, 15 – 17 years and adult (18+).

Theme

"In the moment"

Judging

Your work will be judged on how original it is, how you have constructed your story or poem, the use of language, (including creative expression, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling) and the way you have developed characters, atmosphere, or setting or used words in a creative way.

It is critical that this work is original and not copied in any way. Copied or AI generated work will be disqualified. Short stories exceeding the 500 words limit, or poems longer than 25 lines will also be disqualified. An independent judging panel will assess all submissions.

For more information, please contact WestWords: Western Sydney’s Literature Development Organisation, on 1800 937 896 or by email: admin@westwords.com.au.

3. Prizes

The total prize pool is $2,400. Winners aged 17 or younger will receive $200 and their school, if located in Blacktown City, will receive a corresponding $100 as an incentive to encourage the budding authors of our local area. Adult winners will receive $300.

Announcement of the prize winners

The presentation ceremony will take place on Thursday 11 December 2025, at 6 pm. All winners and Highly Commended recipients will be invited to attend.

4. Submission criteria

1. The work must be original and completed in the last 6 months and unpublished in any other source, including school newsletters, prior to the presentation ceremony on 11 December 2025.

   Entries can be either:

   • poem, maximum of 25 lines

   • short story, maximum of 500 words

2. You are ineligible to enter if you have won in 2024.

3. Only one entry per person is permitted in each category.

4. Each entry must have a completed entry form. 

5. The judges' decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

6. All participants will receive a letter acknowledging their entry and participation.
   A presentation ceremony will be held on Thursday 11 December 2025, where all highly commended writers will be invited, and the winners will be announced.

7. Submit entries with a completed entry form online at westwords.com.au.