The Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scotland’s leading nature conservation charity, has launched the Words of the Wild nature writing competition in celebration of its 60th anniversary.

The competition, which has an adult and a junior category, is open for submissions of up to 1,000 words in English, Scots or Gaelic until 31 August 2024. Writing can be in the form of poetry, short stories, journalistic articles, essays, letters or song lyrics. A judging panel including young author and ornithologist, Dr Mya-Rose Craig, and broadcaster and Trust ambassador, Stephen Jardine, will select winners in each category, with prizes worth over £1,200.

Words of the Wild competition guidelines

• Submissions can be poems, journalistic articles, essays, letters, song lyrics or a short story.
• Entries can be fiction or non-fiction (i.e. imagined or real) but we are not looking for fantasy writing (so no imaginary animals) or writing about domesticated or farm animals. Entries must be connected to the native wildlife of Scotland.
• Submissions should be no more than 1,000 words and must be an original piece of work that isn’t published anywhere else and has not been entered into other competitions.
• Entries are limited to one per person.
• Submissions must be sent (online or by post) before midnight on the 31 August 2024.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.