Terms & Conditions

1. Entry is free via the online entry form. The link will become live on March 13, 2026.
     a) All entries must be submitted digitally via our online form to be considered eligible.

2. To be eligible, entrants must reside within one of the following local government areas:

    • Blacktown City
    • Blue Mountains City
    • Camden Council
    • Campbelltown City
    • The City of Canterbury Bankstown
    • Cumberland City Council
    • Fairfield City
    • Hawkesbury City
    • Liverpool City
    • The City of Parramatta
    • The Hills District
    • Penrith City
    • Wingecarribee Shire
    • Wollondilly Shire

3. Entries must be written primarily in English, and may be in the form of short story, poetry, personal essay or creative non fiction. The length must not exceed 500 words (title excluded) for short story, personal essay and creative non fiction, and must not exceed 25 lines of poetry.

4. The theme to which entries should respond is ‘Is it true … ?’.

5. WestWords/Westlit Libraries is unable to provide any additional clarification or advice.

6. Work must be original and unpublished.
    a) Work must be original, unpublished and solely authored by the applicant. By entering a submission, the entrant hereby declares that no Generative AI tools (large language models) were used in the creation or editing of their submission.

7. Entries will be judged according to the following criteria:

    • Originality and creativity
    • Construction and use of language
    • Engagement with the stated theme

8. Facilitators of the associated writing workshops may not enter the Living Stories Western Sydney Writing Prize in the LGA where they deliver their presentation.

9. Do not include external links, such as video or audio, within your text. Doing so will invalidate your entry.

10. The judging process for the entries will be conducted blind. Please do not include your name within the text of your entry.

11. The applicant’s name must not appear on the entry file.

12. To be eligible, all entries must be lodged via the online entry form by midnight on April 27, 2026.

13. There are four age categories:

    • 10-12 years
    • 13-15 years
    • 16-18 years
    • Adult (18+)

14. Please note that an entrant’s category is based on the age they will turn in 2026.

15. Up to one winning entry and one highly commended entry from each age category in each participating LGA will be announced in June 2025, via WestWords Instagram, Facebook, Website and via the WestWords newsletter.

16. Only winners and highly commended entrants will be individually notified.

17. Judges’ decisions are final. No correspondence will be entered into.

18. Judges’ reserve the right to allocate no winner or highly commended in a category.

19. By entering this competition, you agree to the potential publication of your work by WestWords/WestLit Libraries, both in hard copy and digital forms. Copyright and ownership of intellectual property remains with the author.

20. All LGA winners and highly commended entrants of the 2026 Prize will receive (1) free copy of the 2026 Living Stories: Is it true … ? anthology.

21. If selected as an LGA winner or highly commended writer, the FIRST and LAST names that entrants provide on their entry forms will be used to publicly announce the results across social media, the WestWords website, and EDM mailing lists. Submit your entry under the FIRST and LAST name you wish to be publicly known by. 

22. WestWords reserves the right to edit the winning and highly commended entries for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and comprehensibility before publication in the anthology. 

23. After the publication of the 2026 Living Stories: Is it true … ? anthology, all LGA Winners, LGA Highly Commended recipients, Overall Winners, and Overall Highly Commended recipients will be contacted to arrange the bank transfer of their cash prizes. The cash prizes are as follows:  

  • Overall Adult Winner – $750
  • Overall Junior Winners – $300
  • Overall Adult Highly Commended – $250
  • Overall Junior Highly Commendeds – $200
  • LGA Adults Winners – $100
  • LGA Junior Winners – $75
  • LGA Adult Highly Commendeds – $75
  • LGA Junior Highly Commendeds – $50