The Heritage New Writing Contest seeks to find the island’s most talented prose and poetry writers

The 2024-25 academic year marks the fourth edition of The Heritage New Writing Contest, a national creative writing competition run by The Heritage Private School, looking to find, celebrate and support Cyprus’ most talented writers of prose fiction and poetry under the age of 18.

Conceived in 2021, The Heritage New Writing Contest was established to fill a gap in the available English Language extracurricular provision on the island. A previous creative writing competition had ceased to exist and there was now no outlet for young writers working in English to find recognition and come together in a spirit of collaborative competition – a spirit that The Heritage Private School aims to encourage in inter-school activity.

Students at every English-language private school in Cyprus were invited to submit original pieces of either poetry or prose fiction centred on a theme that changes with each new edition of the contest (so far, entrants have had the chance to write on: harmony, escape, food and island life). Entries are first judged internally by the students’ schools, as final submissions are limited to two per category per school. Prizes are awarded in the categories of: Under 11 Poetry; Under 11 Prose; Under 15 Poetry; Under 15 Prose; Under 18 Poetry; Under 18 Prose.

All entries from each school are then sent for blind judging (judges are not permitted to know the writers’ names, schools, genders etc) by a panel of authors and academics. Each judge submits a shortlist in their allocated categories, before a final judging meeting takes place to select the ultimate winners and commended entrants.

These outstanding writers are informed of their success and invited to attend an awards ceremony held in May at The Heritage Private School where they are presented with book vouchers and their own copy of The Heritage New Writing Contest’s showcase journal, Upon a Golden Bough.

It is the work that goes into the publication of the journal which constitutes the winners’ greatest prize, because before the journal is printed, the young writers are able to experience a professional editorial and revision process. Each winner and commended entrant is assigned to one of the contest’s judges, who functions as their editor in preparing the work for publication. Over the course of several rounds of edits and revisions, the young writers get to see the meticulous and ongoing craft that goes into the production of a piece of literature, as well as having the rare opportunity of discussing their own writing with a literary expert before seeing it in print.

As the contest’s organiser, it has been exceptionally gratifying to see its growth over the four years of its existence. In 2021-22, 11 schools chose to take part; this went up to 14 in 2022-23; and in 2023-24 we saw submissions from 18 schools, with the same number – though not the same schools – taking part in the current academic year. The fact that we are consistently receiving around 200 pieces of writing, especially given that these 200 have already been whittled down within the participating schools, tells us that there is a really vibrant enthusiasm for creative writing in Cyprus, coupled with a truly extraordinary level of talent simply looking for its opportunity.

Equally, with 14 different schools having secured winning entries, it has been wonderful to bring together students from all four of Cyprus’ cities, both on paper and in person at the Awards Ceremony, where sparkling discussions and new connections arise between students, teachers and schools united in their passion for writing and literature.

Especially in a time when the Humanities are coming under attack by a culture of STEM-centrism at all levels of society, seeing young people find compelling voices in the creation of pieces of work that span genres and themes and forms is particularly exciting and encouraging for the future of English literature and literary art. Not just in Cyprus, for our winners come from all over the world and will go on to diffuse their talent well beyond the confines of our island.

For anyone interested in learning more about The Heritage New Writing Contest, or simply looking for some brilliant and eclectic reading material, full details and the electronic versions of every edition of Upon a Golden Bough can be found on The Heritage Private School website.