Australian kids' competitions to enter in 2026
A free directory of 73 real Australian competitions for kids in 2026 - art competitions, writing competitions, photography and film competitions, STEM and maths competitions, performance and music competitions, and social good competitions. Filter by age (4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-16), state (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, NT, ACT, national), entry cost (free, paid, paid-optional) and format (online, postal, school-entry, individual, team). Updated monthly by theINmag, Australia's magazine made by kids for kids.
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performance ASME Young Composers Awards (state-based) A state-by-state comp for young composers, from solo instrument to rock, pop and EDM. Winning compositions are performed live at the awards ceremony. live now art Canberra Glassworks Kids’ Design Competition Draw a design on the theme Art in Bloom. Annette Blair blows the winning design in glass live at Floriade, and the finished piece goes home with the kid. live now social good National Water Week Poster Competition Run by Victorian water corporations. Kids design a poster on the year’s water theme, and category winners progress to state finals in National Water Week. live now writing Book Links Short Story Writing Competition A nice low-key one for upper primary writers. $100 prize plus the winning story published on the Book Links website. Open theme. live now stem Territory Young Scientists Awards NT kids build a bug out of pre-used materials and explain where it lives, or make a Crocwise poster. Teachers enter. Prizes given in Darwin in November. live now performance ACMF National Songwriting Competition Nearly $20,000 in prizes, all paid towards musical equipment or tuition. A breakthrough comp for any kid who writes songs in their bedroom. live now stem Tasmanian Science Talent Search Tasmanian kids from Kinder to Year 12 decode the universe with a picture book, photo essay, video or invention. Kinder to Year 2 gets its own division. live now art Nunga Kids Art Competition Run by SA’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People. First Nations kids’ art on the Children’s Day theme is displayed during NAIDOC Week. live now writing Poetry In Action Poetry Competition One original poem, any Australian school kid. Winner takes $1,000 and their poem joins performances seen by over 100,000 students. Poet keeps copyright. live now art ArtStart at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery For 25 years, teachers across Northern Tasmania have sent in student art. Selected pieces are hung, professionally presented, in a real museum gallery. live now art Save The Frogs! Art Contest Frog conservation through art. Open to all ages and free to enter, so Aussie kids are welcome. Quirky, niche and surprisingly popular. live now social good National Schools Poster Competition (NSPC) Kids design and run their own investigation, then share what they found on a digital poster. Cash prizes per division, plus a sustainability stream. live now photography & film Flickerfest FlickerUp (Australian National Youth Competition) The youth arm of Flickerfest, Australia’s Academy Award qualifying short film festival. Winning films screen at Bondi beside the international lineup. live now art Children’s Week National Poster Competition The winning drawing becomes the real national Children’s Week poster, printed and sent to schools, libraries and councils around the country. live now art International Festival of Owls Kids’ Art Contest A small US festival comp that now draws entries from dozens of countries. A perfect home for kids who love owls. Original art only, posted to Minnesota. live now art Australian Cartoonists Association Prize (in theINmag) Going since 1924. The ACA picks a winner from the cartoons kids send in to theINmag each issue. The winner gets a year of Inkspot, their own magazine. live now art Camp Australia Big Art Comp Camp Australia runs a national art comp every term. Past prizes include hoodies printed with kids’ own art and a trophy designed by The Brickman himself. live now art Crayola Creative Acts of Color (Open Call) Crayola’s year-round open call. Less about winning, more about joining a global creative movement. Kids share what they make, tagged #StayCreative. live now writing State Premier’s Reading Challenges Not a competition, a challenge. Read books from your state’s list and earn a certificate signed by the Premier. A big motivator for reluctant readers. live now everything theINmag - publishing real creative kids Your drawing, story or comic on a real printed page, in the hands of thousands of kids across Australia. Send in anything you’ve made, any time. Send it IN. live now art Sydney Royal Easter Show - Junior Arts & Crafts Australia’s biggest creativity showcase, running since 1869. Hundreds of junior classes, and winning entries hang in the Arts & Crafts Pavilion. closes Feb stem APSMO Maths Olympiad (Years 5-6) For kids who light up at hard maths problems. Four contests, five questions each, no calculator. More about how creatively you got there than the answer. dates TBC art Children’s Rights Queensland Art Competition Run by Children’s Rights Queensland with the Queensland Family and Child Commission. Age-group winners shared over $2,000 in prizes in 2025. dates TBC performance Class Clowns Run by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. A free workshop with a pro comedian, then a real heat in front of a live audience. Top prize $1,500. dates TBC art Eckersley’s Kids Colouring Competition Grab a free colouring sheet at any Eckersley’s store or online, colour it in however you like, and winners take home $50 Eckersley’s gift cards. dates TBC art Faber-Castell Create Your Mark Faber-Castell and Cool Australia set a classroom brief each year. The school behind the most inspiring entries scores $1,500 of Faber-Castell products. dates TBC stem FIRST LEGO League (Australia) Where kids fall in love with engineering. Teams build a LEGO robot to solve missions, then compete from regional level all the way to international. dates TBC art Micador Brand Giveaways Aussie-owned art supplies brand Micador runs regular giveaways like Win a Year of Micador, with ranges for toddlers right through to tweens. dates TBC art NSW Children’s Week Art Competition Run by the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People, with themes built around children’s rights. Group entries are welcome, three age categories. dates TBC performance Oz Schools Instrumental Championships (OSIC) State championships leading to a National Final for young piano, strings, drums and guitar players. Top placers play State Finals at iconic venues. dates TBC art Smiggle Christmas Card Competition Kids draw a Christmas card front cover and the winning design is printed on actual Smiggle Christmas cards. Prizes usually include vouchers and Smiggle gear. dates TBC art Staedtler Secondary School Artist of the Year Staedtler’s annual high school comp with a $5,000 prize pool, judged by three professional Australian artists. Weekly draws give away $200 art packs. dates TBC art Staedtler World Kids Colouring Day Kids send in a drawing on the year’s theme, and for every picture Staedtler donates to a Plan International project supporting girls’ education. dates TBC photography & film Very Short Film Festival - Junior Category (VSFF) Australia’s coolest under-the-radar youth film festival. Selected films premiere in Hobart, then tour nationally. Phone footage is fine. dates TBC performance Wakakirri National Story-Dance Festival Entered as a school. Over 10,000 students a year tell a story through dance, drama and music in professional theatres. Storytelling beats technique. dates TBCalready run this year (back next time)
writing Just Write - For Kids (SA Public Libraries) Run by Marion City Council’s library network. First prize up to $200, second up to $100. Word limits 300-750 (9-10s) or 500-1,000 (11-13s). Open theme. annual art Young Archie The little sibling of the Archibald. Kids paint or draw a portrait of someone who matters to them, and finalists hang in the Art Gallery of NSW. opens again ~Jan stem Think Science! Competition (ANSTO) Run by ANSTO, Australia’s nuclear science organisation. Free to enter, with generous prizes for winning schools. Particularly strong at primary level. opens again ~Feb art Cossack Children’s Art Awards A regional WA gem. Kids get a 30x30cm canvas to paint, and finalists hang alongside the famous Cossack Art Awards. The overall winner takes home $300. opens again ~Mar writing Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards One of Australia’s longest-running kids’ poetry comps, named for the writer of My Country. Cash prizes, plus an annual anthology of the best poems. opens again ~Mar writing Furphy Junior and Youth Literary Award Goulburn Valley kids write a short story or a poem on any subject. First prize in each category is $300, judging is blind, and the author keeps copyright. opens again ~Mar writing NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee The classic spoken spelling bee for NSW Years 3 to 6. Kids progress from class to school to regionals, with State Finals held at Penrith. opens again ~Mar writing NSW WriteOn Competition Run by the NSW Department of Education with the State Library. Winning stories are published in the Best of WriteOn anthology, kids’ words in print. opens again ~Mar art Spencil Art Prize Run by Aussie stationery brand Spencil. Major prize packs worth $400 each are stuffed with art supplies, so the prize is fuel for the next masterpiece. annual writing The Golden Pen (Scribblers Festival) Run by Perth’s kids’ lit festival, Scribblers. The overall winner takes home an e-reader and book pack, and shortlisted writers get book subscriptions. annual writing CYA Conference Hatchlings Award Run by the CYA Conference for children’s and young adult writers. Cash prizes of $100, $60 and $40, with categories across different writing forms. annual photography & film Little Sydney Lives Photography Competition Run by the City of Sydney. Kids capture the city through their own lens, phone snaps welcome, and selected photos exhibit outdoors in central Sydney. opens again ~Apr writing Randolph Stow Young Writers Award Cash prizes for prose and poetry from primary writers in WA’s Midwest and Gascoyne. Winners get a perpetual trophy displayed at their school. opens again ~Apr art Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists Named after picture book legend Shaun Tan. Winning art hangs for a month at Subiaco Library, professionally framed, with the City picking up the tab. opens again ~Apr writing Whitsunday Voices Short Story Competition Cash prizes for first, second and third in every age category, Grades 3 to 12. Any subject at all, with word limits that step up by year level. annual stem Big Science Competition (ASI) Run by Australian Science Innovations. Fifty minutes of problem solving in real-life contexts, and a pathway into their science extension programs. annual writing Boroondara Literary Awards (Young Writers) Run by Boroondara Library Service in Melbourne since 1999. The young writers categories share over $5,000 in prize money, huge for a council award. annual writing Laura Literary Awards (Prose & Poetry) A small-but-mighty comp from the Rocky River Writers Club in country SA, with prose and poetry streams. Note: entries must be posted, not emailed. annual photography & film OM Kids Photo Competition (Australian National Maritime Museum) Kids 16 and under photograph oceans and waterways, and three winners each take home an OM System Tough TG-7 underwater camera. It runs every year. annual art Reconciliation Day Poster Competition ACT school kids draw an A4 poster on the year’s Reconciliation Day theme. The winning school takes $1,000 and the poster can become a public mural. annual writing South Perth Young Writers Award (SPYWA) Shortlisted writers score a one-on-one workshop with a published local author, and finalists are published in the SPYWA Anthology. Prizes up to $150. annual writing Whitlam Institute What Matters? Writing Competition The Whitlam Institute asks kids one question, what matters? Answer however you want. Top prize is $1,500 and every entry is read by a real human. annual art Banabae - We Are All Artists Aussie kids’ clothing brand Banabae prints the winner’s art onto real clothes in their next collection. The winner also takes home a $500 voucher. opens again ~Jun writing CBCA WA’s Make Your Own Storybook Awards Make a real book, cover to cover: original story, original illustrations, hand-bound, solo or in a duo. Run by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (WA). annual photography & film Crikey! Magazine Photography Competition (Australia Zoo) Run by Australia Zoo and the Irwin family. Top prize is two nights at the Crocodile Hunter Lodge, worth over $1,800. Robert Irwin started out here. opens again ~Jun stem Matific Maths Olympiad A five-day online maths comp where participation comes first. Top schools win up to $1,500 and every student gets a certificate. opens again ~Jun art Operation Art Entered through NSW schools. Fifty pieces of student art are gifted to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead every single year. annual art Wild At Art Run by the Australian Conservation Foundation. Kids make art about an Aussie threatened species, and judges look for heart over technical skill. opens again ~Jun stem Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) Australia’s oldest and biggest maths comp, entered through schools since 1978. Every student gets an award, and the Olympiad pathway starts here. annual stem Opti-MINDS Creative Sustainability Challenge Prep to Year 6 kids get a division all their own. Queensland teams across 13 regions take seven weeks on a big challenge with zero outside help. annual writing Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee A national spelling tradition for Years 3 to 8. Kids compete from school to a national final, and past winners have met the actual Prime Minister. opens again ~Jul art Royal Adelaide Show - Junior Art, Craft & Design Australia’s largest junior art, craft and design display. Real prize money and real exhibition space in the Goyder Pavilion, from painting to pottery. annual performance Tournament of Minds Teams get six weeks on one big problem with zero adult help, then perform their solution to a live audience and face a surprise challenge on the day. annual stem Young ICT Explorers (YICTE) Founded by SAP and free to enter, with about $30,000 in cash prizes each year. Kids build real tech projects, from coding apps to building robots. annual writing Better Read Kids Writing Competition Run by Sydney bookstore Better Read Than Dead. Every entry is published in an anthology, so just by entering, kids become published writers. annual writing Young Territory Author Awards NT kids write and make a real book, cover to cover. The Young Territory Author of the Year takes $500, and entries join a Darwin library collection. annual art Celebrate Australia Primary School Art Competition In its 20th year. Gladstone region primary kids make art about the Australia they care about, and chosen pieces travel to sister city Saiki in Japan. annual photography & film Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year - Junior Category The comp Robert Irwin won as a kid. Run by the SA Museum with Australian Geographic. Junior winners take home $500 and every finalist gets exhibited. opens again ~Decnothing matches that combo. try clearing a filter.
checked weekly. last reviewed 8 September 2026.
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