The Moss Creatures
A Short Story Competition for Young Writers
Open to young writers 7 - 14 years old, anywhere in the world!
Submissions are now closed - winners announced in March 2025!
Image Copyright Marianne Broggi
Who are the Moss Creatures?
From the artiste, Marianne Broggi, whose work inspired this competition:
”Les Peuple des Mousses (‘the People of the Moss’, or The Moss Creatures) are inspired by the latest archaeological research in the Fontainebleau region of France. Many engraved rocks from the end of the Neolithic period have been studied here, and have shown elements of Celtic mythology. As someone who studied art in Brittany, I am very influenced by Celtic art.
The exhibition Secret Stones: Pre-Celtic Mythology in the Forest of Fontainebleau (Prehistory Museum of Île-de-France, 2023) triggered in me this desire to create mythological characters.
Each of the creatures that I created has been given a name. To name them, I gathered the names of Gallic, Slavic, and Inuit deities ... and I was sure to always include references to the animal and plant world; to natural elements.
Within each of the creatures, I have included a seed (squash, pine, wisteria), like a sleeping heart.
The idea is that each of these creatures is a small protective totem that recalls the roots of humanity and our attachment to nature.”
This competition is open to young writers, aged 7 - 14, from anywhere in the world!
Submissions close January 31st, 2025.
About the Short Story Competition
In October 2024, WOAF Founder Amy Han was in a little French village called Moret-sur-Loing. There, wandering through cobblestone streets, past medieval houses and the remnants of castles, she stumbled across a storefront named Caravane des Arts. It was a gallery and shop co-owned by 20 local artists; samples of their work were for sale inside.
Amongst the paintings, prints, jewellery, pottery and sculptures, Amy’s eyes were drawn to a basket of whimsical, hand-sewn characters. Their labels explained that they were the Peuple des Mousses (The Moss Creatures). She immediately knew she needed to adopt one - to bring home to Australia, to show the young writers she taught in her Melbourne-based studio and online. She was excited to tell them about these creatures, this village, the nearby forest of Fontainbleau ‘where they came from’, and to witness the stories they imagined unfold.
Amy chose a little blue creature named Ahti. According to the artist, Marriane Broggi, who she contacted later with the idea for this competition, “Ahti was named after the Finnish God of the Sea.”
Ahti, named after the Finnish God of the Sea. Made by Marianne Broggi.
Photo by Amy Han, 2024.
So here we are, young writer friends, not only in Australia or France but around the world:
Amy and Marianne invite you to write a short story about Ahti, or your own Moss Creature.
Who are they?
How do they live?
What do they dream of?
What can we learn from them and their connection to the forest,
to the natural world?
FAQs
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Submissions are open to all young writers, anywhere in the world, who are aged 7 - 14 years old at the time of submission.
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Yes. We will be selecting a winner + shortlist in the following age groups:
Understory Writers: Age 7 - 10
Emergent Writers: Age 11 - 14
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Click here to submit your writing.
Please make sure you have read the guidelines carefully before submitting your work. Thank you!
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All stories should be previously unpublished. By submitting to this competition, you grant Words of a Feather permission to publish your writing (should your story win or be shortlisted). Writers retain full copyright of their own work.
Language:
All stories must be written in English. They can include some words in other languages - including made-up languages!
Word Limit:
Stories must be less than 1500 words. There is no minimum length.
Formatting:
Please include your full name, city/country, and your parent/guardian’s name and email in your document.
Times, 12pt
.doc or .docx file
Editing:
Please read and edit your story carefully before submitting. We want you to be sure you are submitting your story in the best form you can. We want to read it in the way you want it to be read!
It’s a good idea to also have an adult check your work - even grown-up, professional writers need fresh eyes to pick up on spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes! This is good practice for all future writing you send out into the world :)
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Your judges (meet them at the bottom of this page) are very excited to read your stories! We will be looking for:
Stories. This seems obvious, but is your story a story? Does it have a main character who learns something or changes in some way? Is there a clear beginning, middle (with a problem), and an end?
Character. Is your story about a ‘moss creature’ (the way you imagine them - there is no right answer here!)? Have you described them so that we can picture them in our minds? At the end of the story, will we feel like we have met them, and been on a journey with them?
Setting. Have you described the forest (or other place) that they live in?
Storytelling, description, language, and feeling. Did you write your story in a way that captured our attention? That brought your character and story world to life; that made us think or feel something?
The most important thing is that you are sharing a story you want to tell, inspired by the Moss Creatures. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to read like the books you are reading! It just has to be yours.
It’s a brave thing to share your work. We are so grateful you are choosing to share your story with us.
Thank you!
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Of course, a prize!
There will be 1 winner + 1 runners’ up from each age category.
Each winner will receive their own unique Moss Creature made by Marianne Broggi, in addition to a copy of their published story!
Each runners’ up will receive a copy of their published story.
In addition, we will also select a shortlist of stories to be collected into a book along with the prize-winning stories.
The Moss Creatures - Stories from the Forêt, will be published in 2025.
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Submissions open: 1 December, 2024
Submissions close: 31 January, 2025 (11.59pm, AEST)
Winners & Shortlisted Writers notified: February 2025
Winners & Shortlisted Writers announced: March 2025
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If you didn’t find your answer here, please feel free to contact us.
We’ll be happy to help!
Image Copyright Marianne Broggi
Meet the Artiste:
Marianne Broggi
Marianne Broggi is an artist based in France, near the forest of Fontainebleau. She specialises in papier-mâché, drawing, and engraving. In addition to art-making, she leads textile curiosities workshops, encouraging participants to imagine the fantastique in the microcosms of the world around us.
Learn more about Marianne here.
The Moss Creatures Short Story Competition Judges
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Amy Han - Founder, Words of a Feather
Amy is a writer based in Melbourne and Paris. She has been leading creative writing workshops, and supporting and celebrating young* writers, for over a decade.
Amy’s writing has appeared in several online and print publications, and has been recognised in local and national writing awards. Her latest novel, The Yard Sale at Story House, was published in January 2024.
Common themes in Amy’s writing are nature, growth, connections, and magic. She would have absolutely loved to have entered this competition as a young writer! Everything she creates at WOAF, she does with the understanding that if she and those around her would love for it to exist, then there are probably more humans around who would love it to exist, too.
She deeply believes that creative writing and storytelling are important life skills - for each of our own lives, and for a better world.
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Vicki Renner - Author & Editor
VIcki writes fiction and non-fiction, with work published in the UK and Australia. Her young adult historical fiction novel, People of the Hammer, won a Varuna Publishers' Fellowship Award and she is now writing the second novel in the trilogy.
Vicki has a Diploma of Arts (Professional Writing and Editing) and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology and English Literature). She is currently completing a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing.
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Jory Akuhata - Writer & Storyteller
Jory started writing in 2014, while hiking the length of New Zealand using Māori tools and equipment. He enjoys retelling the old Māori stories he grew up with and recontextualising them with our modern way of being. He is a firm believer that using your own life experiences adds something unique to your characters, and makes the story your own.
Jory lives in Wellington, New Zealand, on a boat.
The Forest of Fontainbleau
Image Copyright Amy Han