Essex Book Festival has teamed up with Essex Year of Opportunity to launch its inaugural Words for a Greener World Short Story Competition, which is open to all schools in Essex.

It’s simple. Students aged 7-16 years (there are two categories: 7-11yrs and 12-16yrs) are invited to write a short story up to 500 words based around the theme of Climate Change.

The Stories will then be submitted by participating schools – or individually if home-schoolers –each school selecting a maximum of two entries per class to form part of a countywide longlist.

The closing date for the competition has been extended to Friday 16 January 2026.

Winners will be announced at a special ceremony on 28th February 2026 at Chelmsford Theatre Studio at Essex Book Festival’s annual Manifesto for Essex Eco-Gathering.

Festival Director Ros Green says:

Ever since the launch of our Manifesto for Essex Project www.manifestoforessex.co.uk in 2020, we have been inviting young people across the county – whether its photography students at Harlow College or members of YAK (Young Artists Kommunity) based at Firstsite in Colchester – to take part in a range of writing and artist activities designed to raise awareness of the present and future impacts of Climate Change on our wonderful county.

Words for a Greener World Schools Short Story Competition is our first countywide Manifesto for Essex activity, and, as such, is hugely exciting for us. I can’t wait to read the stories and have the opportunity to meet some of Essex’s talented next generation of writers!

We were delighted to launch the competition in the fabulous forest school space at Tendring Primary School last Friday, where a group of YR4 pupils participated in an eco-writing workshop led by award-winning local children’s author Wendy Constance.

Find out all of the details for the competition at essexbookfestival.org.uk/words-for-a-greener-world

Find out more about Essex Year of Opportunity.