Our annual Story in Nature competition, in partnership with The Week Junior Science+Nature, allows young people to express their love of trees and nature through writing. Whether you write a poem or a piece of prose, fiction or non-fiction, we want to know why nature is important to you.

By telling nature’s story, we can all make a difference – so let’s get creative for our planet!

The Competition

Whether you want to write a poem about your favourite tree, a story told from the perspective of an acorn or a description of a green space that you really love, we’d love to read it!

Entries should be no more than 500 words and judges will be looking for a connection with trees and nature, a positive message of hope, originality and words and imagery that engage the reader.

See where the seeds of your imagination take you!

The prizes

You can enter your writing into either the poetry or prose (fiction or non-fiction writing) category. For each category there will be an under 11 and 11-16 winner selected and from those four one overall winner will be selected.

Category winners will each receive a £30 Amazon voucher, certificate and their entry published in our e-book. The overall winner will receive a total of £100 Amazon vouchers, medal and their words will feature in our Force for Nature Exhibition that is currently touring the UK!

If the overall winner is entered by a school, the school will also win £150 Amazon vouchers for books or equipment.

See the competition terms and conditions.

To help you get started, we’ve created this handy guide full of tips and ideas.

Story in Nature in the classroom

Join in

Sign up for our live lesson

Aimed at 7-11 year olds, our live lesson will help inspire your pupils to explore the wonder of nature through writing, generating great ideas for their competition entries!

Thursday 30 November: 1pm-2pm

Learn

Deliver a lesson

Download our PowerPoint and deliver this hour lesson to help your class create some inspiring entries.

Learn

Story in Nature worksheets

Download worksheets that helps your pupils write their Story in Nature entry independently, whether that’s in the classroom or as homework.

take inspiration from last year’s winners

11-14 winner

Fatimah

Judges loved the imagery in Fatimah’s poem, the powerful message and the true connection with nature shown.

Under 11 winner

Sebastian

Sebastian’s clear love of nature shone through in his narrative piece, as well as a sense of awe for the natural world around him.

Tell your story!

We know just how important trees are. They give us the oxygen we need to live while also enhancing our lives, making us feel calmer when things are tough. It’s time to speak up and tell your Story in Nature! And if you need a little help and inspiration, check out Young Tree Champion Ambassador, writer Harry Munt’s, video for top tips.

Terms and Conditions

Prior to applying, please read our Terms and Conditions.