Books

21 students from across Canada shortlisted for The First Page student writing challenge!

Thousands of students wrote about topics ranging from the ethics of AI to climate change and war.

Thousands of students wrote about topics ranging from the ethics of AI to climate change and war

A composite image of 22 faces.
Students from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 First Page student writing challenge. (See individual pages for credit)

Twenty-one young writers from across Canada have been chosen as finalists for The First Page student writing challenge, which asked Grades 7 to 12 students to write the first page of a novel set 150 years in the future.

Students imagined how current events and trends — from the ethics of artificial intelligence to climate change — have played out in the year 2175.

The 21 finalists were chosen from about 1,000 entries submitted in 2025. The winners will be selected by YA author S.K. Ali and be announced on June 12. 

You can read the shortlisted entries below.

Grades 7 to 9 category finalists

Grades 10 to 12 category finalists


An illustration of an astronaut and her cat standing on the surface of a planet looking up at the stars.
The First Page student writing challenge asks students in Grades 7 to 12 to write the first page of a novel from 150 years in the future. (Ben Shannon/CBC)

Bestselling YA and children's writer S.K. Ali will select two winners, one from each category, from the shortlists. Her books include the YA novels Saints and MisfitsLove 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. 

Her 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.

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.

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on our student writing challenges!

...

The next issue of CBC Books Student Writing Challenges newsletter will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in the Subscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.