Climate change writing competition for schools: secondary

We want to hear from you.

We want to hear your vision for a net-zero Scotland and how you would take us there. Think about the different changes that Scotland needs to make in order to reach our targets.

The winners will be invited to the Scottish Parliament to discuss their entries with the First Minister.

All shortlisted entries will receive National Book Tokens to purchase books of their choice.

Climate change is humanity’s biggest challenge. Scotland has made excellent progress and has nearly halved emissions since 1990.

But we must go further, faster. We have committed to net-zero for all greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Everyone in Scotland - government, businesses and individuals - needs to do their part to help us become a net-zero society.

Please send all entries to climate.change@gov.scot and include your name, class and school.

Important information 

Any young person in secondary school in Scotland can take part.

Your entry can take any form of writing you wish, including fiction. Examples could include a short story, a poem or an essay.

Your entry should be no longer than 400 words. This word limit is a maximum and not a suggestion for how long your entry should be - shorter entries will also be accepted.

There will be three stages to the judging. Our climate change team will read all the entries and sort into categories depending on the number and type of entries received. The team will then shortlist the best entries for a panel of judges to choose the winners.

All applicants whose entries are shortlisted will be contacted shortly after the initial selection process has concluded. The timing for this will depend on the number of entries received.

It is for schools and teachers to decide whether you can prepare your entry during class time.

Primary school pupils can also take part by entering our photo competition.

More information on tackling climate change

Everyone has a role to play in tackling climate change and our individual actions make a substantial difference. The UK Committee on Climate Change has made several recommendations for individual action on page 25 of their report on reaching net-zero. If you’re interested in spreading the word about climate change, why not host a Big Climate Conversation with your class, family, or community group?

You could also ask your school if they’ve signed up to climate ready classrooms or ecoschools. 

You can find out more about climate change by talking to your teachers and by looking at these websites:

• Keep Scotland Beautiful
• Greener Scotland 
• BBC bitesize
• Read about climate change on our website

Terms and conditions

All entries can be used and reproduced by the Scottish Government. Judges decisions are final.