Bestselling YA author S.K. Ali to judge the 2025 First Page student writing challenge
Grade 7-12 students can write the first page of a speculative novel set 150 years in the future
Bestselling YA author S.K. Ali will judge the 2025 First Page student writing challenge!
The First Page student writing challenge asks students in Grades 7 to 12 from across Canada to write the first page of a speculative novel set 150 years in the future.
The challenge tasks young writers with imagining how current world issues and trends will evolve in the next century.
The First Page competition is divided into two categories — one for Grades 7 to 9 students and one for Grades 10 to 12 students.
Ali is mostly known for her thoughtful coming-of-age and romantic YA literature like Saints and Misfits, Love from A to Z, and Love from Mecca to Medina. She has also ventured into children's books with her picture book The Proudest Blue and the middle-grade anthology she co-edited, Once Upon an Eid which won the Middle East Book Honor Award in 2020.
Ali's latest novel explores a different genre to everything she has done before — dystopian science fiction. In Fledgling: The Keeper's Records of Revolution, the first of a YA duology, two earths are on the brink of self destruction.
When the dutiful Raisa of Upper Earth is arranged to be married to Lein, the Crown Prince of Lower Earth, Raisa obliges in the hopes of preventing further war. Lein's cousin and recently imprisoned Nada have a different idea: stop the royal wedding and spark a revolution.
As tensions rise between both worlds, the paths to tyranny or peace become more and more blurred.
As a YA author and former educator, Ali is excited to get a chance to read the writing of young writers from across Canada.
"As a reader, I never judge a book by its cover. Instead, after locking eyes with the title — super important — I flip to the first page, my breath held in anticipation as I read — as I judge," Ali told CBC Books.
I can't believe I get the opportunity to peruse first pages from a new generation of pre-published authors!- S.K. Ali
"It's one of the best parts of being a reader and I can't believe I get the opportunity to peruse first pages from a new generation of pre-published authors!"
Ali will choose the two winners from 10 finalists in the Grades 7 to 9 category and 10 finalists in the Grades 10 to 12 category.
The winners will receive a one-year subscription to OwlCrate, a monthly book delivery service, and will have their winning entry published on CBC Books. They will also receive 50 books for each of their school libraries.
Last year's winners were Anya Thadani for her story Fixed and Hayley Peters for her story Forbidden Realities.
WHAT YOU CAN WRITE: Your entry can be 300-400 words in length. Your entry also needs a title, but the title is not included in the word limit. Your entry can be written in any genre.
WHO CAN ENTER: This contest is open to all Canadian residents who are full-time students enrolled in Grades 7 to 12. Entries will be judged in two age categories: Grades 7 to 9 and Grades 10 to 12.
PRIZES: The winner of each category will receive a one-year subscription to OwlCrate, which delivers monthly boxes of books and literary-related goodies. The school library of each winner will also receive a donation of 50 books.
HOW TO SUBMIT: During the submission period, a link to an online entry form will be available on this page. We'll share more details about when and how to submit in early 2025.
TEACHER GUIDES: Visit Curio.ca for discussion questions and writing tips from Canadian writers, like Cory Doctorow, Linwood Barclay, Fonda Lee, Cherie Dimaline, Erin Bow, Katherena Vermette and M.G. Vassanji.
HAVE QUESTIONS? Email us at cbcbooks@cbc.ca.
If you're interested in other writing prizes, check out the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize is open now, the CBC Poetry Prize will open in April and the CBC Short Story Prize will open in September.
