Time to Write 2027 is back!

 
We are thrilled to announce that our creative writing competition, Time to Write, is back for 2027, in partnership with ISEB. 
 
With almost 3,000 entries from last year’s competition, all on the theme of ‘Thread’. The standard was extremely high, with truly creative storylines, wonderfully crafted characters and brilliant use of vocabulary and language techniques on display.   

We're looking forward to another year celebrating young writers and encouraging creativity across schools
Theme for 2027: 'Sound' 

The winning entries in each category will once again be turned into illustrated books, with illustrations created by talented third-year students from Arts University Bournemouth. 

Two runners-up in each category will have their stories developed into a bespoke concept page, bringing their characters and settings to life through illustration.   
Age categories  

This year, the Time to Write 2027 is open to pupils in Years 5 to 8, with separate categories and word limits for each year group: 

  • Year 5: up to 650 words 
  • Year 6: up to 700 words 
  • Year 7: up to 750 words 
  • Year 8: up to 800 words 

Each school can submit up to four entries per category. Schools will review entries internally and select the stories they wish to submit to the competition. 
Key dates 

The competition will open for entries on 12 January 2027 and will close on 31 January 2027. A link to the submission form will be shared in January. 

For full details about the competition form and entry requirements, please visit ISEB's website: Time To Write | The ISEB and IAPS Creative Writing Competition 2027

We look forward to welcoming entries from schools across the membership and discovering the creative and imaginative ways pupils respond to this year's theme, Sound. 
Past winners

Explore some of the fantastic winning entries from previous years

2026

We are delighted to reveal the winners of the IAPS and ISEB Time to Write 2026 competition.

We received almost 3,000 entries for this year’s competition, all on the theme of ‘Thread’. The standard was extremely high, with truly creative storylines, wonderfully crafted characters and brilliant use of vocabulary and language techniques on display.   
Announcing the winners!
  • Years 3 & 4: ‘The Girls’, St Dunstan’s College Junior School, UK.
  • Years 5 & 6: ‘The Journey’, Channing Junior School, UK.
  • Years 7, 8 & 9: ‘The Red Thread’, Perrott Hill, UK.
  • Years 10 & 11: ‘Loose Ends’, The Roman Ridge School, Ghana.
We are delighted that all of the winning writers are from IAPS member schools! All four winners will now see themselves in print, as each will have their story turned into an illustrated book! These books will be illustrated by talented third-year illustration students at our competition sponsor Arts University Bournemouth.

Each winner will also receive an audiobook player, audiobooks and a set of accessories from sponsor Voxblock, an Oxford Dictionary from sponsor Oxford University Press, and a winner's hoodie from sponsor Team Elite!

The winning writer's schools will each be awarded a great set of books for their libraries from our sponsor Oxford University Press.
And the runners-up are...
  • Years 3 & 4: ‘The Threads of Belief’, Winterfold House School, UK, and ‘The Blue Thread’, Lyonsdown School, UK.
  • Years 5 & 6: ‘The Thread at the Bottom of the Box’, Bassett House School, UK, and ‘The Threadlands - The Last Witch’, The Manor Preparatory, UK.
  • Years 7, 8 & 9: ‘Me and Mel’, King's College School Cambridge, UK, and ‘The Girl with The Tattered Red Scarf’, Sherborne Girls, UK.
  • Years 10 & 11: ‘To Come Undone’, SOKA International School, Malaysia, and ‘Threads’, Runnymede College, Spain.
The two runners-up in each category will see their story come to life through an illustrated concept page, created by illustration students at Arts University Bournemouth.
Highly commended stories
Stories that were included in the top ten for each category and were read by our panel of judges in Winchester will each receive a highly commended certificate. You can see these stories on the Time to Write website.
The judging process for 2026
Entries were collaboratively shortlisted online by a group of almost 200 teachers and literary professionals and experts, using Adaptive Comparative Judgement technology on the RM Compare platform. Thank you to all who took part in the shortlisting round.

The top ten entries in each of the four categories were read and discussed by our panel of literary experts in our final judging event, held at St Swithun’s School, in Winchester, last Friday. The panel included:
  • Emma Drage, Senior Commissioning Editor for children’s books at Oxford University Press
  • James Cole, Senior Lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth.
  • Naomi Anson, Head of English at St Swithun's School.
  • Marc Knight, Head of English at York House School.
  • Rebecca Fletcher, literary journalist and author.
  • Rebecca Henderson, Head of English at Marlborough House Vinehall School.