Imagination Creation Writing Competition

Privacy Statement

Your/your parent’s/guardian’s personal information is being collected by Wyndham City Council for the purpose of administering your submission to the Wyndham Libraries Imagination Creation Writing Competition. Any personal information you submit will be processed by Council in accordance with the competition’s terms and conditions and the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic). Council will use third party platform Submittable to conduct the competition. Submittable’s privacy policy can be accessed here - https://www.submittable.com/privacy. Your/your parent’s/guardian’s personal information will be used to communicate with you/your parent/guardian and administer your entry into the Imagination Creation Writing competition. For further information about how your personal information is handled, please visit Council’s Privacy Policy. 

1. This competition is run by Wyndham City Council (‘Council’) in the state of Victoria, Australia only.
2. By entering this competition, you agree to accept these terms and conditions of entry. If your entry does not comply with these terms and conditions, it will not be valid and will not be accepted.
3. To be eligible to enter this competition, you must be aged between 5 and 18 and you must live or study in Victoria.Council staff, Councillors, judges (Alice Pung and Margaret Campbell) and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter.
4. If you are aged under 18, you must have your parent or legal guardian’s consent to enter the competition.You acknowledge and agree that Council may contact the parent or legal guardian listed in your entry form at any time to confirm that consent has been provided. You acknowledge and agree that teachers and other adults cannot sign consent on behalf of a child’s parent or legal guardian.
5. To enter the competition, you must submit an original story or poem and properly completed entry form via the Submittable website between 12:01am on 7 April 2026 and 4:00pm on 15 July 2026.Entries received outside of this period will not be accepted.
6. You acknowledge and agree that:
   1. you must create a Submittable account in order to submit your entry, which you must retain for the duration of the competition;
   2. creating a Submittable account requires you to provide personal information to a third-party provider and agree to their terms of use, and that Council accepts no liability in respect of Submittable’s collection, use or disclosure of your personal information; and
   3. you may request that your Submittable account be deleted at any time, however if such a request is made prior to 13 November 2026, your entry will also be deleted and as such, be invalid.

7. You may submit a maximum of one story and one poem, provided that each complies with these terms and conditions.
8. Your entry must:
   1. be your own original work which has not been created using generative AI software such as ChatGPT;
   2. not contain any objectionable, profane, insulting, inflammatory or defamatory material;
   3. not infringe a third party’s intellectual property;
   4. not include your name or any details or information which may identify you;
   5. be submitted in English;
   6. be unpublished at the time of entry; and
   7. not exceed the maximum word limit below:

9. Judging will commence on 17 July 2026.  Entries will be shortlisted by Council staff. Shortlisted entrants will be notified by email and their entries will then be judged by external judge Alice Pung who will determine the winners in each age group category and the Wyndham Local Award. External judge Margaret Campbell will judge the shortlisted entries to determine the winner of the Margaret Campbell Award.
10. To be eligible for the Wyndham Local Award, you must live in Wyndham.
11. A total of 14 competition winners will be chosen who will each receive a QBD Books gift voucher in the amount as listed below.  The total prize pool is valued at $1500.  Refer to QBD Books’ website for their terms and conditions for the redemption of gift vouchers.

12. Winners will be contacted by email by 9 October 2026 and will be announced at the 2026 Imagination Creation Writing Competition Awards Night, to be held at Hoppers Crossing Library on 13 November 2026 from 7:30pm.  You acknowledge and agree that this event may be held online if it cannot be held in person.
13. Winners’ names and the title of their winning entry will subsequently be published on Council’s website and the Libraries in Wyndham Facebook page by 18 November  2026.  If you are a winner, you consent to the publication of your name and title of your entry in connection with this announcement.
14. If a winner cannot be contacted by 23 October 2026, Council may opt to conduct further judging to determine a new winner.
15. If a prize has not been collected by 4 December 2026, the winner will be deemed to have surrendered the prize and Council may opt to conduct further judging to award the unclaimed prize.
16. You acknowledge that you retain copyright in your entry.
17. You grant Council a perpetual and royalty-free licence to publish, cause to be published or otherwise use your entry in any format whatsoever:
    1. on Council’s website;
    2. as part of an anthology to be published about the  2026 Imagination Creation Writing Competition, which will be made available electronically on Council’s website and in hard copy in at least five branches of Wyndham City Libraries;
    3. in recordings to be played at the 2026 Imagination Creation Writing Competition Awards Night, for the purpose of promoting the competition.
18. You acknowledge and agree that your name, as provided in your entry form, may be published in connection with the publication and/or use of your entry.
19. You indemnify and hold harmless Council, its Councillors and employees against all claims arising in connection with a breach or potential breach of these terms and conditions.
20. Prizes are not transferable, exchangeable, or redeemable for cash.
21. Council may, acting in its absolute discretion, require winners to provide evidence of their identity, age and/or that they live or study in Victoria.
22. Council accepts no responsibility for late, lost, incomplete, corrupt, or invalid entries.
23. If for any reason, this competition cannot be run as planned, Council reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the competition and/or amend these terms and conditions.
24. Council’s decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

Are you a young writer aged 8-14? Full of ideas and stories? Let your creativity bloom in the Creative Writing Corner! Sessions run fortnightly during school term at Hoppers Crossing Library. Bookings preferred but walk-ins also welcome. 

For more information and bookings, click here

Download and have a look through some of the past Imagination Creation winners stories and poems.