Young  Authors Awards/Prix jeunes écrivains

OECTA is proud to sponsor the annual Young Authors Awards/Prix jeunes écrivains. The awards celebrate the exceptional writing produced by our students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 every year. Students across the province submit fiction, poetry, plays, and nonfiction to the competition, in both English and French.

There are three levels of competition: school, unit, and provincial. The first-place winners at the school level advance to the unit level, and the first-place winners in each unit advance to the provincial competition.

2026 Deadlines

School – February 13 (Class entries received by the staff representative)

Unit – February 20 (School entries received at unit office)

Provincial – March 4 (Unit entries received at the unit office)

Submissions

All entries must be submitted digitally in the form of a Word document or PDF. Unit entries should be emailed to youngauthors@catholicteachers.ca by end of day, March 4.

Categories / Divisions

Provincial Selection Committee

Representative teams of elementary and secondary teachers across the province will be chosen to form subcommittees for the provincial selection process. Information regarding judging criteria and procedures will be provided to those selected, and judges will receive a small honorarium for their time. Applications to serve on the Provincial Selection Committee will be available in early 2026.

Provincial winners are announced at the June Council of Presidents and certificates are issued to all students whose work makes it to the provincial level. Winners’ plaques are issued to all provincial winners, in addition to copies of the anthology containing their work.

The provincial winners’ works are published in an anthology each year. See the full list of our 2025 winners HERE.

Questions

Inquiries should be directed to youngauthors@catholicteachers.ca or by calling the Professional Development department at OECTA Provincial Office at 416-925-2493 or 1-800-268-7230.