Short Story Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

An individual creative-writing entry for teens aged 13 to 19 in which the entrant submits a finished piece of short fiction, rated by the panel on the page alone.

Short Story is a written-submission class in the Creative Writing category. The entrant invents a piece of fiction, with characters, a situation that changes and an ending, and hands it in to be read. Nothing is performed or read aloud: the judges meet the story only as words on a page, so everything the reader needs has to be on it.

In eTalenter’s templates the class appears once, in an international teen talent competition run at state or regional level and then at national level. It sits beside Articles and Essays, News Writing, Poetry and Plays and Skits (Writing). What sets it apart from those is that it must tell a story: a person wants something, meets an obstacle and ends up changed or at least different. An opinion piece, a report or a poem on the same subject would belong in a sibling class. A story written in a fixed sitting on the day is a different class again, because this one carries no time limit.

A finished entry has a title and the story itself, usually a few pages of continuous prose with paragraphs and dialogue set out in the normal way. Most organisers set a word or page limit and a deadline, and some give a theme. Because the template sets no time limit, the piece is normally written and revised beforehand and handed in with the entrant’s number on it if the organiser marks blind.

Organisers run the class because it gives young writers who prefer a quiet desk to a stage a place to compete on equal terms. For coordinators using eTalenter it is entered like any other item: register the entrant, record the panel’s rating, and the ranking is calculated within the Teens group.

Where Short Story is run

In eTalenter’s data this Short Story item appears on one template: an international teen talent competition for the 13 to 19 age band. Short-story contests are common in school, library and youth writing programmes, but this page describes only the format that template defines. The separate Short Story Writing item in other templates is a different, sitting-based format.

• International teen talent competition (state, regional and national levels)

Key facts

• Individual entry: one teen writes and submits one story.
• Single age group, Teens (13-19); boys and girls compete together; English.
• Rated by the panel and ranked within the Teens group; the assignment sets a maximum score of 5, while the score label reads “out of 10”.
• No time limit in the template, because the story is prepared in advance and handed in.
• Fiction only: essays, news reports, poems and scripts belong in the sibling Creative Writing classes.
• Idea starters, not rules: a story that begins with a lost key, a new student who hides something, a journey that goes wrong, a letter that arrives twenty years late.

On eTalenter, Short Story is filed under Creative Writing and typically scored with Rating out of 10. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Short Story is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 5.

What judges look at in Short Story

What a Short Story panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Plot: a clear beginning, a point where something changes and a real ending, rather than a description or a list of events.
• Opening: the first few lines set the scene or the problem quickly enough that the judge wants to read on.
• Characters: people who are shown through what they say and do, with a want that drives the story, not a paragraph of stated traits.
• Language: controlled grammar and spelling, varied sentence length and word choices that suit the voice, with dialogue punctuated correctly.
• Originality and finish: a fresh angle on a familiar idea, carried through to an ending that feels earned, and not copied from a known story or film.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Short Story under Scoring Setup, or start from the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Short Story

How entrants and their teachers usually get Short Story right on the day:

• Choose one central moment or problem and build the whole story around it; a short story rarely has room for more than one.
• Write the ending early so the middle has somewhere to go, then draft the opening last once you know what the story is about.
• Keep the cast small, give each character one clear want and make them speak differently.
• Show feelings through actions and details, such as a shaking hand or a door closed too quietly, instead of naming the emotion.
• Leave the draft for a day, then read it aloud and cut sentences that repeat what the reader already knows.
• Check the organiser’s length limit and layout, then proofread spelling, punctuation and the punctuation of dialogue before handing in.

Frequently asked questions

Is Short Story judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Is Short Story the same as Short Story Writing?

Not in these templates. This class is a prepared piece handed in by a deadline with no time limit. Short Story Writing in other templates is written by hand in one sitting on a set theme.

How long should the story be?

The template prints no word or page limit. Ask the organiser for the limit, any theme and the submission deadline.

Can I write about real events?

The class is for fiction. Real experiences can inspire a story, but the piece should be shaped as a story with invented characters and a plot rather than reported as fact.

How is it marked?

The panel gives a rating out of 5 in this template, and entrants are ranked within the Teens (13-19) group.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide, or browse every creative writing competition item.