Hive Young Writers’ Competition 2026/27

Hive Young Writers’ Competition 2026/27
A writing competition for 14 to 30s from or based in the north & midlands
Poetry | Flash Fiction | Stories
Deadline: midnight, 24th February 2027
Age Categories: 14–16 | 17–19 | 20–30
Individual & group/class entries welcome

Hive Young Writers’ Competition is open to young people aged 14 to 30, living, from, based or with a home (or term) address in the north/midlands (as defined on this map). Whether stories or poetry (or both) are your thing, you can enter up to 2 pieces of work at any time before the deadline.

There’s no set theme, we’re just looking for your best work. We also have plenty of resources if you’re looking for inspiration, ideas or guidance to get you started (see below).

INSPIRATION
If you’re after inspiration, you’ll find a gallery of great photos here and lots of Get Writing Prompts & Tips to get you started and spark ideas.

PRIZES
Print publication / professional feedback & mentoring sessions / digital & tech prizes / writing goodies.
Commended and highly commended writers will also be invited to submit to our next Hive print anthology. (Check out our latest anthology here)

“One of the most valuable things about the competition was the professional feedback and edit support on my work before publication. I learned so much.” Louisa Rhodes

Jump to:
Get Writing Prompts & Tips – for fab writing exercises & tips
Guidelines & How to Enter

Click on the images below to view the writing inspiration photo gallery, or visit the gallery here on Flickr
Gallery images credited to respective owners, linked here

Our Judges
SHORT STORY & FLASH FICTION

  Jacob Ross is a poet, playwright, journalist, short story writer and novelist. He runs fiction masterclasses for numerous agencies in the UK and abroad and is currently Associate Editor for Fiction at Peepal Tree Press. He is an editor and/or Associate Editor of numerous anthologies, including Turf, Closure, The Peepal Tree Book of Caribbean Short Stories and The Free Reads Anthology, among others. He has tutored and mentored several high-profile authors and has judged the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize, the VS Pritchett and Tom Gallon Prizes, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Jhalak 2026 Literary Prize.

Ross’ short story collections include Song for Simone, A Way to Catch the Dust and Tell No One About This. His novel Pynter Bender was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Regional Prize, the Society of Authors ‘Best First Novel’ and Caribbean Review of Books ‘Book of the Year’. His Jhalak Prize-winning novel The Bone Readers was published in 2016, followed by Black Rain Falling, the second in a quartet of novels, in 2020. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

POETRY
Vanessa Lampert is an acupuncturist and poet from Oxfordshire. Her first full collection Say It With Me was published by Seren in 2023. She has an MA in Writing Poetry from Poetry School London and Newcastle University. Since 2019 she has won the Café Writers prize, Edward Thomas prize, Sentinel prize and Ver Poetry prize twice, and placed second in the Fish, Yeovil, Oxford Brookes, Ware and Kent & Sussex prizes. She was commended in the National Poetry Competition 2020 and nominated in the Best Single Poem category of the 2023 Forward Prize.

Vanessa’s work has been published in Magma, The Moth, The Oxford Times and Poetry Wales. She co-edits The Alchemy Spoon magazine and has taught children in schools and for Learn with Leaders in India. She has run workshops for Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Poetry School London, Hive South Yorkshire and Stanza groups nationwide. Her pamphlet On Long Loan was published by Live Canon in 2020. www.vanessalampert.me