Wicked Writers: Be the Change
Wicked Writers: Be the Change 2025
In 2025, our Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition ran from 13 January to 28 February 2025, in partnership with Wicked Active Learning, the acclaimed cultural and social education programme for the UK production of the stage musical Wicked.
This programme is now closed.
If you missed it, you can still download our supporting classroom resources below.
Supporting classroom resource
Download our supporting classroom resources...
About the programme
2025 winners and runners-up
The winners and runners-up of the 2025 Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition have now been announced. Thank you to everyone who took part and shared their amazing writing with us, we received a record-breaking 2400 entries and our judging panel were blown away.
What was Wicked Writers: Be the Change?
Wicked Writers was a persuasive writing competition inspired by the themes of Wicked the musical, which gives pupils a chance to have their voice heard and to win some exciting prizes in the process.
The project ran between 2023 and 2025.
In the most recent, 2025 competition, we asked pupils aged 9 to 14 to write persuasively about a positive change they would like to see in their local community. This could be anything from environment to mental health to social justice – it just needed to be local! Making a positive change is a key theme in Wicked and is the subject of the song For Good.
In 2025, we were lucky to have an incredible judging panel, including Cressida Cowell, bestselling author of How to Train Your Dragon and former Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate; Manjeet Mann, award-winning author of The Crossing and Run, Rebel; and Jonathan Douglas, CEO of the National Literacy Trust.
Why did we develop Wicked Writers: Be the Change?
Our research has found that twice as many children and young people who take part in writing competitions report that they enjoy writing, which has great associated benefits from improved writing skills to their confidence, creativity and wellbeing.
The free, supporting classroom resources that supported the competition included curriculum-linked activities and aimed to support and develop students' persuasive writing skills.
Exciting prizes included class trips to see Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, an online writing workshop with Manjeet Mann for the winning school, book bundles and publication in an anthology.
The competition was open to both school-educated and home-educated pupils in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.
What teachers and pupils told us
At a time when many young people do not see themselves as writers, this competition encouraging students to consider and create a range of entertaining and thought-provoking stories is invaluable
Ms. Corbally, Library Manager at school of a previous winner
I was so delighted to hear that I was runner up in my category. I am overjoyed that people will read my poetry and see what it means to me.
Samsritha, 2024 runner-up
In partnership with Wicked Active Learning
Praised by educators as “the gold standard for West End shows reaching out into education” and “enriching, engaging, and easy to use”, Wicked Active Learning is the London stage musical’s cultural and social education programme.
“Packed with content that mirrors the framework for personal development” (Belleville Primary School), Wicked provides a range of free classroom resources and lesson plans, a popular programme of official workshops, and post-show Q&As to maximise the educational value and learning potential of school trips to experience the award-winning musical.
The in-house Wicked Active Learning education team are on hand to provide expert advice and school trip planning support, including materials to assist in the completion of risk assessments.