Rewrite a Fairy Tale Competition

Calling all teens from 6th–12th grade! Submit a rewritten or fresh take on a traditional folk tale, fairy tale, or myth. Winners will have the opportunity to have their story published on our blog and win a prize! Submissions due June 30th.

Submit your story here!

Guidelines:

Take an existing fairy tale such as Hansel & Gretel, Jack & The Beanstalk, Rapunzel, or any tale of your choice and rewrite it with a new twist.

There are a lot of different ways to add a twist to a fairy tale rewrite.

An easy way to rewrite a fairytale is to change the time period or setting. You could explore how a basic story would be affected by a different setting (ex. Cinderella in a modern American high school, or Little Red Riding hood in feudal Japan). Do some research and think about how your story would change according to the culture and society of a certain place in time. You could even set a retelling in the future.

Changing the point of view of a fairy tale can also add a new perspective to a story (think of Maleficent or The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs which both retell a known tale from the villain’s perspective). Of course, villains are not the only option, you could also choose a side character, a parent, or even an animal or object.

You could also choose to rewrite a fairytale to highlight or subvert a social issue. For example, many traditional fairy tales feature sexism, classism, ableism, etc. How could you rewrite a fairy tale to comment on negative issues or make a positive change? Maybe you could rewrite the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to comment on poverty or give Snow White more control and agency in her life.

These are just a few options. There are endless ways to rewrite a fairytale in meaningful or interesting ways! Explore any ideas you may have!