The Walter Scott Prize

The two overall category winners (in the 11-15 category and the 16-19 category) will be invited to the Borders Book Festival in June to receive their prizes – a £500 travel voucher and their work published in our printed Anthology.

Entry to this competition is open to persons who will be aged between 1 1 and 19 years on the 31st October 2025 who are full time residents of the UK (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man). Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested.

Each entry must be supported by a responsible adult. The adult may be the entrant’s parent, guardian or teacher, or somebody who knows them well. The adult must provide their own contact details and confirm
that the work is the original work of the entrant.

Young Walter Scott Prize

Entrants must write a piece of historical fiction (between 800 and 2000
words in length) inspired by any aspect of the past – an actual historical
event, place or person. Entries must be set in a time before their author
was born, in a time clearly different from the present. All stories should
be submitted in English. The fiction can be in any form –a story or an
extract from a longer work, a poem or drama script, a fictional diary,
letters or reportage.

Young Walter Scott Prize

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