Welcome to the entry page for Something Miraculous? – Southport’s very own creative writing competition for Year 3-6 and Year 7-9 young writers! Imagine opening a professionally printed book and finding your name and your story inside it.

We’re searching for Southport’s young writers to create 500-word stories filled with imagination, wonder and the unexpected. One hundred selected stories will be published in our book: “Something Miraculous? — Stories of Wonder by Southport’s Young Writers.”

One overall winner will be announced at a special book launch at Christ Church during Southport’s Books Alive festival on Friday 30th October — and their story will be read aloud to a live audience!

Your miracle could be enormous or almost unnoticed; mysterious, funny, dramatic, faith-inspired, fantastical or surprisingly ordinary. It might change a life, answer a deep hope, reveal something hidden or make the impossible possible. You decide what “miraculous” means in your story.

WHO CAN ENTER?

KS2 and KS3 young writers who live, attend school or have another clear connection with the Southport area.

WHAT TO SUBMIT?

One original story of up to 500 words. The title does not count towards the word limit.

WHEN’S THE DEADLINE?

Submit by 11.59pm on Friday 9 October 2026.

HOW?

Ask a parent or carer to upload your story as a DOC, DOCX or PDF via the form below. (Your school does not need to submit it for you.)

Your story must be your own writing—do not use AI to write or rewrite it. Keep it suitable for a family audience and do not include private contact information.

Want some help writing?

Need a bit of support getting your ideas together into a story structure that flows and keeps the reader on their toes? View our classroom powerpoint slides below or download the “Story Mountain” template.

Download the Classroom Powerpoint
Download the Story Mountain Template
Something Miraculous Story Upload
Please provide the name of child's school to ensure submission is local to the Southport area.
What have you chosen to call your story?
Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload

Permissions and declarations

These choices will not affect the judging or selection of the story. Permission for any identifiable photographs or video recordings will be requested separately before the event.
Please tell us about any support used to help the young writer create or prepare their story—for example speech-to-text software, a scribe, an adult typing up handwritten work or another reasonable adjustment. Routine encouragement and spelling or punctuation checks do not need to be included. The story’s ideas and wording must remain the young writer’s own. This information will normally be seen only by the competition administration team. If a brief note is needed to help judges assess the entry fairly, unnecessary personal information will be removed before it is shared. Please do not include medical details or a diagnosis unless this is genuinely necessary.