Clubs and competitions

One way you can enrich your English skills and knowledge is to take part in extra-curricular clubs and competitions. We run several different clubs, as well as our annual creative writing competitions, and we encourage students to take part in prestigious national and international competitions.

Competitions to enter right now

If you like the sound of any of these, want to enter, but feel as if you need a little bit of help getting started, just speak to your English teacher. They’ll be happy to help.

National and international competitions

Orwell Youth Prize:  This prestigious competition provides free feedback and online resources to support all young writers.  The Prize is open to anyone in years 7-13 who is at school or college in the United Kingdom.  This year’s theme is ‘truth’.  The deadline for entries is the 29th April.  More details here.

D.H. Lawrence Children's Prize: Writing Competition

This competition is open to those between the ages of 4 and 16, and you can submit your short stories and poems for a chance to win a kindle and national book tokens.  The competition asks you to write an original fictional short story or poem on the theme of ‘friendship’ (no more than 500 words in length).  The competition closes on the 17th May.  More details here.

Quay Words Young Writers' Flash Fiction Competition

This competition invites entrants between the ages of 10 and 18 to send them Flash Fiction; write a 250 or 500-word story on the theme of ‘Between the Lines.’ There are two age categories – 10-14 years and 14-18 years – with cash prizes in each category of £200, £100 and £50, plus the chance to be published and to perform your work at Exeter Custom House.  They are looking for an inventive story, with a maximum word count of 500 words in the 10-14 year age-category and 250 words in the 14-18 year age-category.  Entries close on the 18th May.  More details here.

The HG Wells Short Story Competition

The annual HG Wells Fiction Short Story Competition offers a £1,000 Junior prize for short stories with the theme, “The Cheat”. Your story must be 1,500 and 5,000 words. Entrants for the junior competition need to be 21years old and under.  Entries close on the 7th July.  More details here.

Wells Festival of Literature Young Poets Competition

This competition offers a chance for young poets aged 16-22 to show off their word skills. You can enter up to three poems in the Young Poets Competition for a fee of £3 per poem which you will have to pay personally.  There is a top prize of £200, with second and third prizes of £150 and £100.Winners receive a year’s membership to The Poetry Society.  The competition opens on 1 April and closes on 31 July.  More details here.

Foyle Young Poets Award

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is one of the biggest and most prestigious poetry competitions in the world. Every year, 15 top winners and 85 commended poets are chosen.  The competition is open to young people between the ages of 11-17.  Poems can be on any theme and in any style but must be no longer than forty lines.  The competition closes on the 31 July 2026.  More details here.‍ ‍

Clubs and competitions in school

Enter one of our annual creative writing competitions

We run a number of competitions throughout the year, every year. If you happen to win, you will receive Bonus Levels to your overall English Level, plus one of our legendary trophies. The regular competitions are:

  • The Cursed Pen – our annual horror writing competition

  • The Green Dagger – our annual crime writing competition

  • The SHSG Poetry Prize – our annual poetry competition

Join our Debating Society

Students in Years 7-10 will be able to learn the skills of debating, practise debates for fun and take part in internal and external debate competitions.

Join our Creative Writing Group

Our creative writing group (for students in KS3 and 4) meets every week to practise and share their work.

Join the GCSE Bookclub

Students in Year 10 will be able to join our Bookclub (from January), in which they’ll read some brilliant super-curricular books and talk about them. The Bookclub will continue to run for Year 11 students until Christmas.