*The 2025/26 competition is now open for entries until Friday 06 March 2026*
From left to right: Jon Miller, chief poetry judge; Julie Corcoran, High Life Highland Head of Library Service; Charlotte Macarthur, The Neil Gunn Trust; Shona MacLean, lead judge. At the Neil Gunn Monument, Sept 25.
About the 2025/26 competition
Full details including rules and entry forms are available on the competition web page at http://www.highlifehighland.com/neilgunn
For other enquiries please email neilgunnwritingcompetition@gmail.com
This competition launched on 15th September 2025 and remains open for entries until Friday 06th March 2026. The lead judge is the author Shona MacLean, best known for her historical novel The Bookseller of Inverness. The themes are as follows:
Adult Short Story and Adult Poetry sections: writers worldwide are invited to choose one of the following quotes from Landscape to Light by Neil Gunn:-
“A landscape that retains the light and is there waiting to receive you on your dark dead days.”
“We are affected strangely by any place from which the tide of life has ebbed.”
Secondary School Section: Highland pupils in S3-S6 are invited to choose one of the following quotes:-
“On the peoples’ part there was love of the land, love of its visible features as something near and natural to them as their own limbs.“ From Butcher’s Broom by Neil Gunn
“Through freedom the adventure continues. The way goes into the future and the end of it cannot be known.” From The Atom of Delight by Neil Gunn
Primary School Section: Highland pupils in P5-P7 are invited to write to the following theme:-
“It was the first time he had ever been away from home and he felt excited.” From The Silver Darlings by Neil Gunn
Sponsors of the 2025/26 competition:
The Neil Gunn Trust and High Life Highland gratefully acknowledge the financial support given to the 2025/26 competition by the following organisations:-
The Highland Council Ward 8; The David Summers Trust; The H R Creswick Charitable Trust; The W.M.Mann Foundation; The JTH Charitable Trust; The Lydia Michael Trust
General information
Prizes
Adult sections: First Prize £500. Second prize £300. Third prize £200.
Secondary school section: First prize £100. Second prize £60. Third prize £40. High Life Highland prize for the school with the best overall entries £100.
Primary school section: First prize £50. Second prize £30. Third prize £20. Lydia Michael Award for the primary school with the best entries overall £100.
For all sections of the competition the judges also award Highly Commended and Commended certificates at their discretion.
Judging and Award Ceremony
The lead judge for the adult sections is always a prominent Scottish literary figure. He/she is assisted by a panel of judges and shortlisting judges for each section. The judges have no information whatsoever about the entrants until the judging process is finished. Judging commences as soon as possible after the competition closes for entries in March and results are normally available by May. Successful entrants are invited to attend the award ceremony in June, which is normally held in the Dingwall area. The judges attend the award ceremony, following which the judges’ comments together with the prizewinning entries in all sections are published on the High Life Highland website http://www.highlifhighland.com/neilgunn.
The lead judges for the last 8 competitions were as follows:
2023/24: Merryn Glover
2021/22: James Robertson
2018/19: Ruth Wishart
2016/17: Michel Faber
2014/15: Rosemary Goring
2012/13: Jackie Kay
2010/11: Andrew Greig
2008/09: James Robertson
Sponsorship
The organisers are entirely reliant on sponsorship and the entry fees paid by adult entrants to cover the costs of the competition. Without the generous support of past and present sponsors, the competition could not survive. Any individual, business or organisation wishing to provide financial assistance to the competition, for instance by sponsoring a prize, is asked to contact the Neil Gunn Trust in the first instance.
Neil Gunn Trust 