Lapworth Museum Creative Writing Competition

Theme

• All submissions must be works of fiction.
• All submissions must relate to the Lapworth Museum or its collections in some way. Stories may explore themes such as geology, dinosaurs, volcanoes, minerals, history, and museums (to name a few).
• We encourage authors to visit the Museum or use the Virtual Museum Experience for inspiration.

Age categories and word counts

• 5 – 8 Years: One story up to 400 words.
• 9 – 11 Years: One story up to 600 words.
• 12 – 14 Years: One story up to 900 words.
• 15 – 19 Years: One story up to 1000 words.
• 20+ Years: One story up to 1500 words.

Entry

Submissions will formally open at midday on 1 July 2026 and will close at midday on 31 July 2026.

• The competition is free to enter.
• Writers both within and beyond the United Kingdom are welcome.
• Full information for the submission process will be posted on this page on 1 July 2026.

Judging

All entries will be anonymised to ensure complete fairness under judgement.

The judging panel will comprise:

• Alice Roberts

Alice is the Professor of Public Engagement with Science at the University of Birmingham and a media personality. She has appeared on numerous documentaries and published more than fourteen popular science and history books, including her children’s novels Wolf Road (2023) and Wolf Mountain (2025).

• Hannah Burrows

Hannah is a poet and museum worker based in Birmingham. Their work has been published by Verve Poetry Press, the poetry society Young Poets Network, and their debut pamphlet is forthcoming from Fawn Press. They are a previous winner of Unislam, and have performed across Birmingham, most recently headlining Tell It to the Music at the Rep Theatre.

• Abbie Roberts

Abbie is a Birmingham-born poet and writer whose work has appeared in several collections, including Echoes of Silence (2016), and her debut anthology, The Wanderings of an Albatross (2021). She has a BSc in Geology from the University of Birmingham and works in business sustainability at Mills & Reeve, balancing a passion for the environment with a love of writing.

Winning submissions

• One winner will be selected from each age group.
• Winners will be contacted before being formally announced.
• Winners will be invited to a private launch event at the Museum (September 2026), celebrating each author as their stories are read aloud.
• Following this, all winning stories will be published on the Museum website in perpetuity.

Additional terms

• No more than one submission per author.
• All submissions must be the original work of the named author.
• Please ensure final submissions are written in English. If English is an additional language for the author, please include the original work and an English translated copy.
• All submissions should be family-friendly in nature.
• Submissions exceeding the designated word count for their category or submitted to the Museum outside the submission window will not be eligible.
• Plagiarism or use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will lead to immediate disqualification.