Early Harvest is Australia’s only creative project supporting primary students to write, edit and illustrate a professionally-published book.
We help teachers build narrative writing units in which every student creates a story for submission, then bring together an editorial board of Year 5 and 6 students who curate the best stories and produce heaps of extra features for the final anthology!
Early Harvest Program 2026
Expressions of interest for Early Harvest 2026 have now closed. Australia's unique creative literacy program that brings primary students together to write, edit, and illustrate a professionally published book!
Early Harvest gives teachers and students the tools to form a collaborative relationship based on professional publishing processes. Guided by expert facilitators, industry professionals and authors, the program will transform your school's approach to narrative writing.
About Early Harvest
Early Harvest is Australia’s only program that enables upper primary students to write, edit and illustrate a professionally published short story anthology.
This curriculum-aligned program, running since 2011, offers a complete narrative unit with a focus on student engagement.
The Early Harvest publishing program has two main components.
A school program supporting teachers to deliver a narrative unit and students to generate story submissions for a professionally-designed and distributed anthology of short stories
An editorial program offered to a select group of students to field the submissions, select the winning entries and produce the book.
Want to know more?
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Term 1 Activities
Early Harvest in Term 1 has a dual focus:
1. Dynamic in-school experiences to help students build key storymaking and literacy skills that will lay the groundwork for them to create and edit their work for submission.
2. Teacher Professional Learning support to introduce 100 Story Building’s writing approach and help create narrative units that integrate with the program.
Term 2 Activities
In Term 2, the Early Harvest school program really comes to life! Students start to develop the written work that they will eventually submit for consideration, teachers delve into further professional learning, and children’s authors discuss their inspirations and the craft of writing.
(Past authors include Maxine Beneba Clarke, Andy Griffiths, Davina Bell and Andrew McDonald)
Term 3 and Beyond
The final outcome of the Early Harvest program is a professionally published print anthology of amazing student stories, comics and other content created throughout the year. Selection of stories for publication is a student-driven process.
With the help of 100 Story Building resources and strategies, your students will curate and submit the best stories from their class to Early Harvest’s student editorial committee. That committee then reviews submissions, gives feedback to writers and selects the content that will be featured in the book.
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The Editorial Committee is a team of Year 5/6 students drawn from each of the program’s participating schools. Applications for this key role open during Term 2, and the team meets weekly throughout Term 3 to craft the book. We will work with your team to identify which of your students are best suited to this opportunity, which is primarily targeted at students from underrepresented backgrounds, specifically those falling into the bottom quarter of socio-educational advantage.
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What year levels can participate?
The program is designed for Year 5 and 6. With some adaptation and extra allowance of time and effort from teachers, students from Years 3 and 4 are welcome to participate.
How can our school participate in elements of the Early Harvest program in 2026?
100 Story Building can work with your school to deliver bespoke in-school workshops and supported teacher learning similar to what is usually covered in the Early Harvest program. While there won’t be a printed anthology or the editor program this year, we can build key storymaking and literacy skills for students and teachers.
Contact info@100storybuilding.org.au to find out how we can work with you.
The 2026 Book: Otherwise
Our 2026 Early Harvest book available for pre-order now!
What if things were … Otherwise?
Every story in this year’s Early Harvest anthology is a map to somewhere that doesn’t quite exist.
Young editors, mentored by bestselling author Hilary Badger and publishing industry professionals, have assembled a collection of worldbuilding tales over a yearlong writing project. The collection includes extraordinary stories, artwork and poems created by young Australian writers between the ages of 8 and 12, alongside a story by contributing guest author Hilary Badger.
All proceeds from sales of our books fund Early Harvest and other 100 Story Building programs.
Buy Early Harvest books
Early Harvest is a great classroom aid to encourage reading and inspire writing among upper-primary students.
Did you know?
This is a pre-order purchase. Books will be available in November.
Otherwise is a collection of stories created by young writers, editors and illustrators through the Early Harvest program at 100 Story Building. Every world in this book is brand new: invented, drawn and mapped by young writers, editors and illustrators.
In 2026, five schools opened their Year 5 and 6 classrooms to a year-long creative writing expedition. With the support of our facilitators and curriculum-linked resources, a superb crew of teachers guided their students through brainstorming this year's theme, drafting, redrafting and finally submitting a story ready for the editors. Children's author Hilary Badger shared her insights into the craft along the way, then contributed an original story of her own, 'The Thought Factory', illustrated by Geraldine Buzzo.
Otherwise is launching 21st of November 2026. All pre-orders will be shipped post this date.