S.K. Ali is judging the First Page student writing challenge — and wants you to know less is more!
The bestselling Canadian YA author offers advice to take your entry to the next level
Bestselling YA author S.K. Ali is the judge of the 2025 First Page student writing challenge!
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.
S.K. Ali is a bestselling YA and children's writer. Her books include the YA novels 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.
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 challenge will be accepting submissions until February 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
If you're looking for some advice to take your entry to the next level, Ali has some tips for you.
"Readers will enter your story more readily if they can see the first scene playing out clearly in their heads. However, to make this happen, write less, not more.
Instead of filling your page with how everything looks, cut all extra descriptions and be more precise with your word choices.- First Page judge S.K. Ali
"Instead of filling your page with how everything looks, cut all extra descriptions and be more precise with your word choices. Describe only the items or people the main character sees or interacts with. And attach a single specific, special detail to those things/people — for example, "blue metal door."
"Using the five senses helps when choosing words – i.e., using the word "metal" in the previous description connotes the door is cool to the touch. This will make the reader feel the main character's push on the aforementioned door."
Winners will receive...
- A one-year subscription to OwlCrate, which sends fresh boxes of books to young readers across Canada on a monthly basis.
- 50 free YA books for their school library
You can read the complete rules and regulations here.
Last year's winners were Toronto's Anya Thadani in the Grades 7 to 9 category for Fixed and Kleefeld, Man's Hayley Peters in the Grades 10 to 12 for Forbidden Realities.
Keep reading for more details.
Download posters for your classrooms: in colour, black and white, or mobile-friendly version
WHAT YOU CAN WRITE: Your entry can be 300-400 words in length. The story could be from any literary genre, from mystery or thriller to literary fiction, from adventure or romance to satire or science fiction. 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.
WHEN YOU CAN SUBMIT: Feb. 1 to 28, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
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 [email protected].
If you're interested in other writing prizes, check out:
- The CBC Literary Prizes
- The CBC Nonfiction Prize — OPEN NOW
- The CBC Poetry Prize — Opens in April
- The CBC Short Story Prize — Opens in September
