Please read these carefully. If you have any questions, please take a look at our FAQs, or get in touch at admin@orwellyouthprize.co.uk
General:
1/ You must be in secondary school years 7 – 13 (or equivalent) by the closing date of Wednesday 29th April 2026 in order to enter.
2/ You must be in full-time education in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales on the closing date of Wednesday 29th April 2026 in order to enter. For international students, see 4/ for eligibility criteria.
3/ You do not need to have participated in an Orwell Youth Prize workshop to enter.
4/ If you are an international student based outside the UK but studying from the British Curriculum, GCSEs, iGCSEs, A Levels, International Baccalaureate or BTEC, you are eligible to enter. If in doubt, please contact admin@orwellyouthprize.co.uk to check eligibility.
5/ The competition is free to enter.
6/ The competition closes for final entries at 23.59 BST on Wednesday 29th April 2026.
7/ Entries may be up to 1000 words long for entrants in school years 7 – 11 (or equivalent) or up to 1500 words for entrants in school years 12 and 13 (or equivalent).
8/ Entries may be in any form. For example, you may enter a piece of journalism, an essay, a short story, a poem, a play, a game design, a cartoon, or any other genre of writing.
9/ Individuals may not make more than one entry in each year.
10/ Each entry must be the original work of the author or authors. You may enter as an individual or as a pair or small group. If you are submitting a collaborative entry, please upload your entry to the form as usual and email us at admin@orwellyouthprize.co.uk with the details of any additional authors.
11/ Entries must not have been selected for publication elsewhere, or have won any other competition.
12/ Entries must be in English.
13/ Entry is online only. Entries sent in the body of an email or as an attachment to email cannot be accepted. To enter, please enter through the formal online form. Only entries through the formal online form are accepted. Incomplete entry forms will not be accepted. If you have any questions about the form, get in touch at admin@orwellyouthprize.co.uk
14/ By entering this competition, entrants agree that their data and their entries may be used anonymously for research purposes, to help us as to improve our processes and reach as a charity, and to understand the priorities and voice of our entrants as a whole.
15/ We offer written feedback on each draft entered to the Orwell Youth Prize. If you wish to receive feedback on your draft, you must submit your piece by 23.59 BST on Wednesday 25th February 2026.
16/ If you submit a draft entry, you may choose to submit your final entry after you have received your feedback.
17/ If you have entered a draft, but not a final entry, your draft entry will be taken as your final entry and will be submitted for judging.
18/ Our readers are encouraged to flag any safeguarding concerns they have about any writing submitted. Your writing may also be shared with a relevant charity to advise if there are safeguarding concerns. If there are concerns, we may contact your school or safeguarding contact. If you have any questions about this process, please contact admin@orwellyouthprize.co.uk
Judging:
19/ Entries will be judged in three categories: for those in years 7, 8 and 9 (or equivalent), for those in years 10 and 11 (or equivalent) and for those in years 12 and 13 (or equivalent).
20/ Judging is based on the quality of the entry as decided by the independent judging panel. Orwell Foundation staff and experienced volunteer readers assist the named judges in selecting the shortlist.
21/ The Orwell Foundation reserves the right to change the panel of judges without notice.
22/ The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into concerning this decision.
23/ For teachers entering a group of students (10+), we suggest a £35 minimum processing donation for schools with the means to pay. This is an entirely voluntary donation which helps us to ensure that we can continue to deliver a smooth process and personalised response to students. Payment can be made to The Orwell Foundation via our PayPal donation page.
Winners:
24/ The prize for winners of the Orwell Youth Prize is George Orwell’s complete fiction and full-length non-fiction works, a selection of essays, a certificate and a cash prize of £100. Winning entries will also be published on the Orwell Youth Prize website. The schools of winning entrants will also receive a further set of the complete works of George Orwell for their library.
25/ The Orwell Foundation has the final decision on whether an entry is published on the website.
26/ The Orwell Foundation reserves the right to change the winners’ prize.
27/ The prize for runners-up is a collection of George Orwell’s essays and a certificate. Runners up will also have their entries published on the Orwell Youth Prize website. The Orwell Youth Prize reserves the right to change the prize.
28/ The winners and runners-up will be announced at the Orwell Prize Ceremony in central London, alongside winners of the Orwell Prizes for Political Writing, Political Fiction, Journalism and Reporting Homelessness, in June 2025. Winners and runners up of the Orwell Youth Prize will be invited to attend the event, with a parent/guardian and guests.
29/ Names and titles of entries of the winners, runners-up and those who are commended will be published on the Orwell Youth Prize Website and shared on Orwell Youth Prize and Orwell Foundation social media channels.
30/ The copyright of each entry remains with the author or authors. However, authors of the winning entries, by entering the competition, grant the Orwell Youth Prize the right to publish and/or broadcast their entry. All winning and runners up entries will be published on the Orwell Youth Prize website.
31/ If you allow your winning or runner up entry to be published elsewhere after June 2026, you agree to acknowledge the Orwell Youth Prize by using the words “First published by The Orwell Youth Prize for the Orwell Youth Prize 2026” and include a hyperlink to www.orwellyouthprize.co.uk
32/ Winners and Runners Up of the Orwell Youth Prize will be given the opportunity to become part of the Orwell Youth Fellows, with opportunities to help shape the Orwell Youth Programme, develop your writing, collaborate with other young writers, and attend and participate in Orwell Foundation events.
33/ By entering the Orwell Youth Prize, authors of the winning and runner up entries grant The Orwell Youth Prize irrevocable, non-exclusive license to republish their winning work in perpetuity, including (but not limited to):
- Publishing the work online
- Publication (in print or online) of the work as part of an anthology or as an education resource.
34/ All the rights mentioned above cover distribution or publication anywhere in the world, including via or in collaboration with third parties. Any commercial publication will lead to a pro-rata royalty.
35/ Personal Data submitted as part of entering the Prize will only be handled in accordance with these rules. The Orwell Youth Prize is committed to good practice in the handling of Personal Data and careful compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. For more information, please see our Data Protection Policy.
Applicability of Entry Fees
36/ As a charity, we are committed to ensuring that the Orwell Youth Prize remains free for state schools, particularly those in areas of high-income deprivation. Our aim is to ensure that our workshops, feedback, and mentoring reach the young people who benefit most from them.
37/ To help sustain and grow this work, we are introducing a small, scaled entry fee for non-SEND independent schools submitting more than 10 entries at the feedback stage (before Wednesday 25th February 2026):
Entry Fees for 2025/6:
First 10 entries: Free of charge
11+ entries: £5 per entry
38/ These fees reflect the additional administrative time required to process and allocate higher volumes of entries for feedback. They have been calculated based on the London Living Wage and will be fully reinvested into our charitable work—including our Regional Hubs, free workshops for disadvantaged schools, and personalised feedback for all entrants.
39/ We understand that independent schools often have charitable status, and we are pleased to provide a letter confirming how participation in the Prize supports your charitable objectives. This letter outlines the direct benefits your contribution brings to young people in disadvantaged communities and can be used for your own reporting or governance purposes.
40/ If members of staff at your school would like to become directly involved in the feedback process—for example, by volunteering as readers—we would be glad to discuss options for a fee reduction or waiver in recognition of this contribution. Please contact sam.hill@theorwellprize.co.uk
to discuss this option.
Payment Terms and Collection
40/ To ensure our administrative process remains straightforward and transparent, invoices for entry fees will be issued after the submission deadline, typically between June and July each year.
41/ Each invoice will accurately reflect the total number of entries over the 10-entry threshold that your school submitted for feedback during the prize cycle. Invoices will be tailored on a case-by-case basis to ensure fairness and precision in billing.
42/ We are happy to provide updates on your current entry count throughout the submission period, so that schools can monitor any potential fees as entries are received.
43/ Payments can be made via bank transfer or cheque to:
The Orwell Foundation
Barclays Bank
Sort code: 20-44-91
Account number: 93650731
IBAN: GB58 BUKB 2044 9193 6507 31
SWIFT/BIC: BUKBGB22