COMPETTION RULES + ENTRY:

Story Garden children’s bookshop and local publisher Loose Parts Press are holding an art and writing competition to see who can scare us the most. You could win:

• A $25 Story Garden voucher 
• A signed copy of “The Lost Ghosts of Lawson” by Antony Mann
• Your artwork/story published in our end-of-year anthology (and one free copy)

Three finalists will be chosen in each category, with one winner selected:

• Writing – Ages 7-9: Short stories between 200-700 words
• Writing – Ages 10-12: Short stories between 500-1000 words
• Visual Art – Ages 7-9: Black and white artworks preferred
• Visual Art – Ages 10-12: Black and white artworks preferred

OTHER RULES:

• Entrants must live in the Blue Mountains LGA.
• Artworks and stories must be original and not created using ChatGPT or any other generative AI tools. They must not contain any copyrighted characters.

SUBMISSIONS:

Writing: Ghost stories, murder mysteries, or anything spooky and spine-tingling. You may submit one story only. Email your story as an attachment (Word or PDF document) to hello@looseparts.com.au or leave a hard copy at Story Garden bookshop.

Artwork: Drawing, painting collage – any visual medium is fine but winning pieces will be published in black and white so we encourage submissions in black/white/grey. You may submit one artwork only. You may either email a photo or digital image of your artwork to hello@looseparts.com.au or leave a hard copy at Story Garden bookshop.

ALL ENTRIES: Please include the following information:

• The story/artwork’s title
• Author/Artist’s name and age
• Author/Artist’s address
• Name of parent or guardian
• Email address and phone number for parent or guardian

Entries due by 17 October!

Finalists will be announced on 23 October and all finalists will be invited to read their stories at our “Haunted Lawson” event on 30 October where the winners will be announced.

(Reading is totally optional. We understand young writers might be shy.)