Young Science Writer Award 2026

Young Science Writer Award 2026

Welcome to the Young Science Writer Award, a national competition celebrating exceptional science writing by pupils aged 14–16 across the UK. Now entering its fifth anniversary year, the Award invites students to investigate a scientific idea that fascinates them, develop it through research and critical thinking, and communicate it with clarity, accuracy, and originality. This form is where you will submit your final essay.
Important Entrant Information. Please Read in Full Before Proceeding.

🎯 Please make sure you meet all entry criteria before applying. You are responsible for ensuring you are eligible to participate in the competition.

🎯 Should you be selected as the Young Science Writer 2026 winner, one of the runners-up or one of the high commended entrants, a journalist will lightly edit your essay for clarity and flow before being published nationally. This is standard editorial practice. Therefore, your essay will not be in its original format at the time of publishing. By continuing with this form, you agree to this.

🎯 We promote the winner, runners-up and highly commended entrants on our ABSW social media channels. Therefore your name and the school you attend will be made available publically. We will also publicise the name of your essay and a summary of what it is about. By continuing with this form you agree to this.

🎯 Our awards ceremony will be hosted this year at the Science Museum in London. All winners, their families and some members of their school will be invited to attend. The ceremony will take place on Monday 15th of June 2026. More details about the ceremony will be circulated closer to the time to winners. Please make your parents/guardian and teachers aware of this date and hold this in your diary.
✨ Submission Requirements

📏 Word count: Your essay must be between 720 and 880 words, however you should aim for 800 words (not including references). If you are above or below the recommended range, then the judges will take this into consideration when marking your essay.

🗣️ Your essay must include a minimum of one quote from someone you have spoken to about your chosen topic. This could be a researcher, scientist or engineer for example. Someone with expertise in your subject area. The inclusion of a quote shows that you have carried out an investigative element to your science writing rather than simply describing a topic.

📄 File format: We only accept PDF uploads. Please ensure that the file name is the title of your essay. Do not use your name or school as the filename and please do not include your name within the essay to help ensure a fair judging process.

🎓 Eligibility: Entrants must be aged 14-16, attend a state-funded, non-selective school in the UK, or attend another eligible institution or be home-schooled due to disability.

⏰ Deadline: All submissions must be received by 23:59 on Thursday 19 March 2026. Entries submitted after this time cannot be accepted unless you have already been in contact with the Programme Director. We cannot accept multiple entries and once you submit your essay, you will not be able to make any changes to it.

📖 Your essay must be your own original work, and all sources must be referenced.

💻 You should understand that your essay will be checked for the use of AI. Should it be found that AI has significantly contributed to the writing of the essay, it will be disqualified from the competition. By continuing with this form you agree to your essay being checked for AI use.
Please read the statements below and let us know you are happy to proceed.
I acknowledge that I have read and understood the information above.*

Yes
I understand you will use my details to administer my entry and contact me about the Award.*

Yes
I agree to my name, school, essay title, and a short summary being used for publicity if I am shortlisted/win*

Yes
Full Name*

First NameLast Name
Preferred Name
This could be different to your full name. If we need to contact your school, we will refer to you by your full name for clarity. If you are a winner, we will check with you which name you would like to be diplayed on the certificate.
Name of School*
Please ensure you meet the eligibility criteria. You must be attending a state-funded, non-selective school. Or, you must be home-schooled due to disability. If you are home-schooled then please state so in the box.
Pronouns
If you would prefer not to answer then please leave the box blank.
Age*
The competition is open to 14-16 year olds. Please only enter if you meet this criteria as we are unable to accept entries from those outside this age group.
School Year*
For example, are you Year 10 etc. (or S3, S4 for Scotland).
Personal E-mail Address (Please check this is correct otherwise you can miss important emails from us).*
We require a personal email as our organisational emails sometimes do not reach school email addresses and are delivered straight to spam. To ensure we can communicate with you efficiently, please include an email address you check regularly. This can be your parent/guardian's email address.
School Address*

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code
Please confirm you have let your school know you have entered the Young Science Writer Award 2026.*

Yes
Please provide the name of a teacher at your school that we can contact should you be a competition winner, runner-up or highly commended entrant and let us know what subject they teach.*
Please provide the email address of the teacher named above that we can contact should you be a competition winner, runner-up or highly commended entrant. Please check and make sure their email address is correct before submitting.*
example@example.com
Your parent/guardian's name*

First NameLast Name
Your parent/guardian's email address (Please check this is correct as we include them in any emails that we need to send to you).*
If you need to contact us, we ask that you always have your parent/guardian or teacher in cc. If you do not include it, we will ask you to email us again and include them.
Please confirm you have let your parent/guardian know you have entered the Young Science Writer Award.*

Yes
How did you hear about this competition? *
Title of Essay*
Should you be named as a winner, runner-up or highly commended entrant, this title will be published alongside the essay nationally.
Which theme does your essay most align with? (You can find more information on our website to help you choose).*

Life ReimaginedThe Digital BrainPlanetary FuturesInvisible WorldsCosmic Perspectives
Please upload your 800-word essay here as a PDF. Files should be no more than 10MB. We will only accept a pdf file. Please do not take photos of your essay or send a word document as we will not be able to accept those. If you need help exporting your file to a PDF please ask a teacher or parent/guardian.*

Please note - we are unable to accept any file formats other than PDF. If you submit it in a different format, then your entry may be rejected. If you are experiencing problems then please contact the Programme Director Maisie at maisie.keogh@absw.org.uk.
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By submitting this form, you (and your legal guardian) give permission for the ABSW to hold your data and contact you regarding the Young Science Writers Award news, events and other important information.

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If you have any questions about our GDPR compliance or want us to correct or erase your data, please contact info@absw.org.uk.
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