Judging is in full swing for the Places Writing Competition and we are looking forward seeing the two anthologies form. Many remarkable places have been brought to life in short stories, poems and micro fiction from near and far. The quality of the writing submitted is high and each piece is precious. Thanks to all the writers and poets who have submitted. Each entry will be read several times and considered with care.
2026 is a special year for Minds Shine Bright as it’s the first time we are publishing an anthology by young writers for young readers. The only thing missing is the artwork, so we are calling all young artists and illustrators aged 15 and under to submit one coloured drawing or painting for the book cover and one black and white line drawing for the inner pages. If you know any talented young illustrators, please help to spread the word. Group school entries are welcome too so please contact us if you have some student artists with flair and are interested in submitting as a group. Â
The first rounds of readings are now complete and in February we will be refining down the longlisted and the shortlisted entries for short stories, poetry and micro fiction and selecting the Overall Winner and each category winner. We will also be selecting the English as an Additional language prize winner, the Young Writer’s prize and the short list and long list for the Young Writers anthology.Â
Once the judging rounds are finished, we will match entries back to names and select recipients of the Certificates of Recognition. This is the only round of judging that isn’t judged blind so that each entrant’s information and life experiences can be considered.
By early March we will be contacting all entrants with an update of whether they have been selected for the Long List or the Short List or not and we will be providing some general feedback too. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to an Announcement of Winners Event on Zoom to be held at the end of March.
Calling Young artist s and Illustrators aged 15 and under! The Minds Shine Bright Young Illustrators Competition: Places is now open and calling for entries.
Would you like to see your places themed drawing or painting featured on the cover of the Young Readers’ Anthology or have your line drawings printed on its pages? First prize is $200 and publication on the cover of the Young Writer’s Places Anthology, five illustrations for the inner pages will each receive $30. All winners will receive a copy of the anthology. Certificates of Recognition will be provided to runners up. A Pay What You Can Afford entry fee of $1-5 Australian dollars applies.
Make sure that you read the full list of Terms and Conditions before entering
You can enter here:
The Minds Shine Bright Young Illustrators’ Competition: Places  opened on 4th February and will close on 31 March 2026.
Each artist can submit one colour book cover image and 1 black and white line drawing on the theme of place. Each entry must be submitted as an A4, portrait orientation, print ready PDF. This can be done by photographing or scanning the artwork at a high resolution. 300 dpi is recommended. Each image must be hand painted or drawn with no digital tools used. Please keep the original art works somewhere safe as we will ask the winning entries to post their original artworks to us for professional scanning. The artwork must be produced by hand, by analogue methods. No artificial intelligence or digital tools can be used to create the artworks.
The art work can represent a place that means something to the artist. It might be a place they’ve lived, a place they love or a place they have had to leave. it might be a favourite holiday spot or somewhere the artist would like to visit or an imagined place or the artwork or illustration can provide creative interpretations of maps or a journey trail with different places along the way, an itinerary, tickets or travel related places. In addition to painting and drawing, comics, street art or manga style drawings can be submitted.
We are using a Pay What You Can Afford model for entry fees. Each entrant selects an amount to pay between $1 and $5. All entry fees contribute towards the prize pool and the publishing costs of anthologies and certificates. I first discovered this model attending an open mic session at the Words in Winter Festival in Daylesford and thought it was an excellent idea (and yes I read a poem too).
The illustrators competition will be judged over April by artist and book designer Dr Caren Florance and Minds Shine Bright Founder, Amanda Scotney. The winners will be announced in late April or early May.
We are looking forward to heading back to Clunes Booktown Festival  on the 20 and 21st March. So come and see us at the Minds Shine Bright Bookshop, discover your new favourite anthology, poet or short story writer and enjoy a couple of days of browsing books and literary events. Every anthology you buy helps us to keep doing what we love, which is shining a bright light on talented writers and publishing beautiful books.Â
Of course if you can’t make it to Clunes you can browse our online bookshop and buy a copy or two here or order a Minds Shine Bright anthology from your local bookshop or library.
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