Interactive writing contests

Run interactive story writing contests: between classes, between schools, or across a whole area.

Running an interactive story contest turns Moiki EDU into a unifying project: within a class, between schools, or across an entire area.

Why a contest?

An interactive writing contest mobilises far more than writing skills alone. Students work as a team, structure a project, present their work to a panel and discover what others have created. The format is direct preparation for oral examinations: presenting, explaining the approach, answering questions.

And above all: the motivation changes. When the story will be read by other students, voted on by parents and presented at a ceremony, the stakes are no longer those of a marked exercise.

A contest in preparation

A collaborative writing contest between lower-secondary schools is being set up in France, in the Seine-et-Marne department, with the county council, the youth council and the regional digital education authority. Each participating class writes a shared story.

Two pilot sessions with 14-year-old students, who created their first story in an hour and a half
Marking grid: substance (40%) + form (30%) + approach (30%)
The coming school year: up to ten schools, so ten classes

We will write here what the contest taught us, once it has taken place.

At every scale

Within a class or a school

The simplest format to set up. A teacher launches a contest in their class or between several classes:

A set theme: students build their story around a common subject
Teamwork: in groups of 2 to 4 students
Panel: the other students, a teacher, a school librarian
Reward: publication in the Moiki EDU catalogue, a reading in class, a display in the school library

Ideal for an end-of-unit project, a theme week, or a cross-curricular project. For a broader format, see project mode and area-wide rollout.

Between schools in the same town

Primary or secondary schools in a town can run a shared contest, often led by the public library or the town's education department:

Participating classes build their stories on a theme connected to the town
The library hosts an exhibition of the creations (reading stations, QR codes)
A ceremony brings together students from the different schools
Parents are invited to vote and to discover the stories

Across a county (lower secondary)

The arrangement chosen in Seine-et-Marne: the county council leads the project with the education authority. Moiki EDU provides the platform and the teaching support. Schools sign up on a voluntary basis.

This format suits youth councils particularly well, as they look for concrete, participatory projects.

Across a region (upper secondary)

The same logic, led by the regional council or by the academic research and development units. Upper secondary schools can fold the contest into their citizenship education, digital science or language projects.

Cross-curricular by nature

An interactive writing contest is not reserved for language lessons. Depending on the theme chosen, it draws on:

Subject	Example theme
Language and literature	Rewriting a folk tale, interactive poetry, branching drama
History and geography	"Tell the story of a great discovery", "Live the Revolution"
Science and biology	"The journey of a molecule", science communication
Citizenship education	Bullying, digital citizenship, sustainable development
Modern languages	Bilingual stories, escape games in English
Art	Illustration, sound design, visual narrative
Media and information literacy	An investigation into fake news, discovering the media

Involving parents

One of the most powerful levers of a contest is family involvement:

Parent voting: all the stories are published online, parents vote for their favourites, which creates a concrete link between school and family
Ceremony: the prize-giving is an event where children and parents come together
Reading at home: the stories are playable on phone, tablet or computer, and parents can discover their child's work
Audience prize: alongside the panel's prize, an award decided by family votes

A project tool, not just an exercise

What sets a contest apart from a simple assignment is the project approach:

Framing: choosing the theme, forming the teams, setting the calendar
Design: brainstorming, narrative tree, splitting the tasks
Production: writing, illustration, testing
Presentation: an oral presentation to a panel, publication
Assessment: self-assessment, peer feedback, the panel's grid

Students learn to plan, collaborate, meet a deadline and communicate about their work. Cross-curricular skills that curricula call for but that rarely find a concrete vehicle.

Support from Moiki EDU

For contest organisers, we offer:

A launch kit: model rules, marking grid, suggested calendar
Teaching support: training for the lead teachers
Technical support: help with publication, account management
Example stories: templates and demos to inspire students

Would you like to run a contest in your class, your town or your area? Contact us, we will support you from start to finish.