Enter the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s 2026 writing competition with new writing inspired by mental health and our theme of Reflections. This year, it is open to writers based in Scotland.

The writing competition is one of SMHAF’s most enduring successes, providing an opportunity for first-time writers to be published alongside established names.

The awards ceremony and publication help us to discover what our festival is really about, as people from across Scotland take inspiration from our theme in poignant, powerful, personal, ingenious and surprising ways.

Competition Guidelines

The theme for 2026 is Reflections. This can be interpreted in any way you choose – the limit is your imagination.

There are three categories and you can submit one piece in each category:

• FICTION: Short fiction pieces, including short stories, between 500 and 2000 words.
• POETRY: Poems, up to 40 lines.
• CREATIVE NON-FICTION: Creative writing with a factual basis, between 500 and 2000 words. Examples can include journaling, autobiographical writing, personal essays, letters and creative journalism.

There will also be a new prize for a young writer:

• YOUNG WRITER PRIZE: Writers aged 16 to 25 may also be considered for a new young writer prize with entries in any of the above categories.

The shortlisted writers and a winner in each category will be selected by a jury of writers and mental health professionals. In recent years, jurors have included Kirsty Strand-Roy, Sarah Bernstein, Tom Bird, Jenni Fagan, Kirsten Innes, and Graham Morgan. Hosts for the event have included Jo Gilbert, Ian Rankin, Rhiannon Mudaliar, Hannah Lavery, and Catherine Simpson.

The jurors’ shortlisted entrants will be invited to read their entry at the awards ceremony during the festival. The shortlisted and winning pieces of writing will also be published in an illustrated print and digital book.

You can read examples of work from previous writing competitions here. Find out more about our Reflections theme here.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) and the writing competition are led by the Mental Health Foundation. The festival is supported by Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland and a range of national partners.

How To Enter

Entries must be submitted as a document (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) file using our online submission form. You will also be asked for your contact details and a short description of your piece.

The closing date for the competition is 11.59pm on Sunday 9 August. We cannot accept any entries received after this date.

The competition is free to enter and entrants must be based in Scotland. Entries must be your own original work. They must not have previously been published either in print or online, nor have been submitted to the writing competition in previous years.

If you have any questions about the competition, require any support, or need to submit in another format for accessibility reasons, please get in touch at smhaf@mentalhealth.org.uk.