Manchester’s historic Portico Library is calling on young readers and writers to discover their creative side with another edition of the Portico Sadie Massey Awards.
Established in 2015, the Portico Sadie Massey Awards seek to nurture a lifelong love of reading and writing among children and young people with a variety of free-to-enter literary competitions and workshops.
Named after Glasgow-born Sadie Massey, the awards honour her belief in the power of words to open minds, spark imagination and build confidence.
Two competitions remain available to enter, both open to young people anywhere in the world. The PSMA Short Story Competition invites writers aged 7 to 18 to submit original stories set in the North of England, while the PSMA Book Review Competition is open to the same age group and welcomes reviews of any book, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry or graphic novels.
The competitions close at midnight on Friday 20 March. Entrants can choose to enter one competition or both.
Winners will be celebrated at an awards ceremony beneath the iconic Portico dome, where they will receive their prizes, meet the judges and have the opportunity to read their work aloud. This year’s judging panel includes Curtis Jobling, Josh Silver, Susan Brownrigg and Matthew Cornford.
Alongside the competitions, the awards programme also includes creative writing workshops inspired by the Portico Library, available to schools and centres across Greater Manchester.
Find out more HERE.
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Wed 25 Feb 2026
