Writing Competition theme
Theme: “How climate change impacts our communities.”
We invite young writers aged 15 to 29 to submit an original piece of writing (fiction or non-fiction) up to 1000 words on the theme of how climate change and/or extreme weather impacts our communities*.
We will accept any form of written work that is under 1000 words, for example, an essay, a short story, a poem etc.
*Communities could be a physical neighbourhood, a regional area, a country or a group that shares common interests and characteristics (for example, ‘young people’ as a single community). We want you to focus on the human and environmental impacts of climate change and/or extreme weather caused by climate change.
What you win
Winners will be announced at a online awards ceremony to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. The winning story will be published on our website in our blog section and shared on social media.
Winners will also receive a copy of Devi Lockwood’s book “1001 Voices on Climate Change”.
How to submit
Entries are free, but we ask for only one submission per person.
The deadline has been extended to allow more people to participate. Please enter the competition by midnight, March 31st, 2026.
To submit, please send a Word document or PDF to planetwatch.events@gmail.com – please ensure the subject of the email is ‘Writing competition entry,’ and the attached document includes the initials of your first and last name, for example ‘Writing_Competition_CB’.
You will also need to send proof that you’ve subscribed to our newsletter and social media to enter. You can send us the handle and email you used to sign up and we will cross-check it.
In the case that we get an excessive number of entries, we will close the competition early. We are a small team; we thank you for your understanding.
Rules and regulations:
- All content must be self-written; Large Language Models (Also known as ‘AI’ e.g. ChatGPT) must not be used to write the story/essay, but can be used to support with spell checking and formatting. We will use a plagiarism checker, and anyone found to have plagiarized work will be rejected from the competition.
- If you decide to submit a piece of non-fiction (ie, an essay), please ensure that anyone named in the story consents to being included. Names can be changed to provide anonymity.
- We reserve the right to close the competition early if we receive more entries than we can reasonably read and judge. We will communicate on our website and social media platforms if we choose to close the competition early.
- Any entries received after midnight on March 31st, 2026 will not be considered for this competition.
- Entries over 1000 words (not including title) will not be considered.
- Entries are free, but we will only allow one entry per person. Anyone sending multiple entries will not be considered for the prize.
- We also ask that you sign up to our newsletter and follow us on either Instagram or LinkedIn to be eligible for the competition prize. Please submit proof of this along with your submission to be eligible.
- We want to champion young, unpublished writers. Please only submit written work that has not been previously published elsewhere (self-publishing on personal social media or websites does not count). If your work is published elsewhere after you submit, you must inform us.
- This competition is only open to writers aged 15-29. We may ask you for proof of your age.
- This competition is open to any writer worldwide.
- The winning entry will be published on our website and promoted on social media. There is no financial reward for winning this prize.
- Entries will be judged by a small panel of internal Planet Watch content and writing experts. We will notify the winner the day before we publish the content online.
Good luck! We’re looking forward to reading your stories!
