Short Story Contest

Now open! Olive and Fred Robins Junior Short Story Contest is an annual programme held each October. Wellington County students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 are invited to submit original stories for the chance to win a cash prize and publication of their work.

Our 2025 contest is open for submissions from October 1 until October 31, 2025 at 11:59 pm. For some inspiration, please enjoy our winning stories from 2024!

First name

Last name

First name of parent or guardian

Last name of parent or guardian

Email address of parent/guardian

Phone number of parent/guardian

Preferred method of communication

Grade

School

Closest WCL branch

Title of story

Please attach a copy of your story without your name. This is so we can judge everyone fairly. Word or plain text document preferred.

One file only.
2 MB limit.
Allowed types: jpg, png, bmp, tif, pict, psd, txt, rtf, html, odf, pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, zip.

Privacy Notice

Personal information (PI) is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act, 2001. All personal information created, held or collected by the County of Wellington is protected in accordance with Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1990 (MFIPPA). For questions related to this collection of personal information, contact the Manager of Privacy and Information, County of Wellington, Office of the CAO, T 519.837.2600 x2528.

Eligibility

Contest rules

Entrants are asked to submit a short story between 500 – 750 words.
Only one entry per person will be accepted and illustrations are not considered.
Stories must be the original unpublished work of the entrant. Co-authored stories are not accepted.
Use of AI tools is not allowed. Minimal feedback from a parent or peer is permitted, but stories must be entirely the entrant’s own work.
Stories must be in English but may include invented words.

Judging criteria

Stories are judged anonymously by the Short Story Contest Committee following the entry deadline.

Each story will be judged based on the following criteria:

Creativity and originality
Story structure, including plot and characters
Style and quality of writing, including spelling and grammar
In the event of a tie, a winner will be selected based on the most creative idea.

Prizes