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Ontario English Catholic Teachers

Young Authors Awards

OECTA is proud to sponsor the annual Young Authors Awards/Prix jeunes écrivains. The awards celebrate the exceptional writing produced by our students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 every year. Students across the province submit fiction, poetry, plays, and nonfiction to the competition, in both English and French.

There are three levels of competition: school, unit, and provincial. The first-place winners at the school level advance to the unit level, and the first-place winners in each unit advance to the provincial competition. The provincial winners’ works are published in an anthology each year.

Deadlines for 2024-25 are as follows:

February 10, 2025: School Deadline – Class entries received by Association Representatives 
February 21, 2025: Unit Deadline – School entries received at unit office 
March 3, 2025: Provincial Deadline – Unit entries received at Provincial Office 

Provincial winners are announced at the June Council of Presidents and certificates are issued to all students whose work makes it to the provincial level. Winners’ plaques are issued to all provincial winners, in addition to copies of the anthology containing their work.

Members are invited to apply to serve on the Provincial Selection Committee. Representative teams of elementary and secondary teachers across the province will be chosen to form subcommittees for the provincial selection process. Information regarding judging criteria and procedures will be provided to those selected, and judges will receive a small honorarium for their time. Applications for the 2025 Provincial Selection Committee will open in February 2025.

Please contact youngauthors@catholicteachers.ca with any questions you may have.

Categories/Divisions

DIVISION CATEGORIES
JK-SK Short Story
Poem
Nonfiction (e.g. reflection or report)
Grades 1-2 Short Story
Poem
Nonfiction (e.g. reflection or report)
Grades 3-4 Short Story
Poem
Nonfiction (e.g. reflection or report)
Grades 5-6 Short Story
Poem
Play
Nonfiction (e.g. reflection or report)
Grades 7-8 Short Story
Poem
Play
Nonfiction (e.g. essay or report)
Grades 9-10 Short Story
Poem
Play
Nonfiction (e.g. essay, article or report)
Grades 11-12 Short Story
Poem
Play
Nonfiction (e.g. essay, article or report)
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