Competitions and challenges

What Matters? writing competition

What Matters? is an annual writing competition run by the Whitlam Institute. This is a chance to express what matters to you in society today.  

Entry is open to students in years 5 to 12 from Australia. There are no restrictions on topic or theme. What Matters? is a 'catalyst for young thinkers and young writers to develop a perspective, a point of view, on where we're heading as a society'.

The 2021 closing date is 14 May 2021.  

The What Matters? writing competition is proudly supported by the Museum of Australian Democracy. 

See the 2020 winner Tanisha Tahsin receive her award here.

The National History Challenge

The National History Challenge invites students to be historians – researching and interpreting the past.

MoAD is pleased to sponsor the special category Democracy Matters. Students from years F–12 are invited to research and create an entry that considers the causes and consequences of a story from the history of democracy. Research a law, political institution, event, individual or group that impacted democracy and analyse its underlying causes and consequences. Entries are not limited to Australian democracy. They can include local, national and global events, places or people.

Closing date is Friday 26 August 2022. 

The 2021 National Young Historian winner in this category was Freja Salt. Watch Freja’s winning entry.  

Get thinking using MoAD’s hints and tips [PDF, 166KB]

Visit the National History Challenge website for further information.

How Powerful Are You?

MoAD Learning would like to know ‘What democracy means to you’.  Inspire others by sharing your thoughts with US in a creative way.  The best submissions will have the opportunity to be rotated through and displayed in the corridors here at MoAD.  These artworks will also be uploaded to our Learning website.  Download the flyer for further details.

Past MoAD competitions