High Life Highland and the Neil Gunn Trust are excited to announce that from Monday 15th September 2025, the 2025/26 Neil Gunn Writing Competition is open for entries.
This year’s lead judge is Highland-based author Shona MacLean, author of The Bookseller of Inverness. Chief poetry judge is Jon Miller, also based in the Highlands and a previous winner of the poetry section of the Neil Gunn Writing Competition.
Left to right: Jon Miller, chief poetry judge; Julie Corcoran, Head of HLH Libraries; Charlotte Macarthur, The Neil Gunn Trust; Shona MacLean, lead judge.
There are 4 sections to the competition.
The Adult Poetry section and Adult Short Story section are open to all writers worldwide. This year entrants have a choice between two quotes from which to draw inspiration for their writing.
Both quotes are from Landscape to Light by Neil Gunn:-
“A landscape that retains the light and is there waiting to receive you on your dark dead days.”
“We are affected strangely by any place from which the tide of life has ebbed.”
The School sections are open to pupils in selected year groups who attend Highland Council schools. The secondary section is open to pupils from S3 – S6, whose writing should be inspired by one of the following quotes from Neil Gunn books:-
“On the people’s part there was love of the land, love of its visible features as something near and natural to them as their own limbs.” – Butchers Broom
“Through freedom the adventure continues. The way goes into the future and the end of it cannot be known.” – The Atom of Delight
The primary section is open to pupils from P5 – P7, whose writing should be inspired by this quote from The Silver Darlings by Neil Gunn:-
“It was the first time he had ever been away from home and he felt excited.” – The Silver Darlings
The closing date for all sections of the competition is Friday 06 March 2026.
The entry fee for the adult sections of the competition is £10 per entry. For those wishing to submit both a poem and a short story the total fee is £18. Entry to the schools’ sections is free.
Rules, which give full entry information, and entry forms are available in Downloads section at the bottom of this page. To complete an entry form, first save a copy to your computer then use Adobe E-Sign to fill and sign text.
For any enquiries about the competition that are not answered by the rules or entry form, please email [email protected] or telephone the Library Support Unit on 01349 781340.
The Neil Gunn Trust gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance provided by the following organisations: The Highland Council Ward 8, The Lydia Michael Trust, High Life Highland, The David Summers Trust, The H R Creswick Charitable Trust, The JTH Charitable Trust and the W M Mann Foundation.
Further information on the work of the Neil Gunn Trust can be found at www.neilgunntrust.org
- Entry form Adult Poetry 25-26
- Entry form Adult Short Story 25-26
- Entry form Secondary 25-26
- Entry form Primary 25-26
- Rules for adult sections 2025-26
- Rules for schools 2025-26
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