Every year, we curate a 12-strong judging panel comprised of previous KW4K winners, award-winning authors, established poets, editors, journalists and avid readers. Meet our panel for the 2023-2024 contest — view contest rules and regulations.
Taym Saffar
Taym Saffar, an eighth-grader in Rothesay, New Brunswick, developed a fervent love for writing at the age of nine. He’s recently won the 2022-2023 Kids Write 4 Kids Contest with The Eternal Box. Besides writing, Taym enjoys playing the piano, reading, and running across abstract shores. Though he hates idleness, it’s often at these times that he is most creative. He is excited to join this year’s Kids Write 4 Kids judging panel for a competition fraught with creativity.
Roy Oborne
Roy, a grade seven student at St. Elias Community School, Dakwäkãda (Haines Junction) Yukon. He loves to hunt, fish and trap and enjoys swimming, hockey, reading and spending time with his friends and family. When asked where his story ideas originate, Roy expressed the importance of using a setting he is familiar with. As the author of One in the Wilderness, one of two winning short stories of 2023, Roy is excited to see what cool stories he will read in the next kids-write-for-kids contest!
Marty Chan
Marty Chan writes books for kids, plays for adults, and social media posts for fun. He’s written 100 plays, 300 humour articles, and 22 books for kids including the bestselling Haunted Hospital. In 2007, his mystery novel, The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul won the Diamond Willow Award. He works and lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle and their two cats, Hugo and Minnie. For more information, visit his website martychan.com.
Jessica Scott Kerrin
Halifax’s Jessica Scott Kerrin, a best-selling author of 16 fiction titles, recently wrote Clear Skies, set during the 1960s Space Race. A mentor to many, she’s toured hundreds of schools and libraries across North America and offers writing workshops for teens and adults. Her works are available in six languages. Outside of writing, Jessica’s diverse experiences managing galleries, dance schools, and museums and collaborating with artists have deeply influenced her stories. Her family, dog, and boat “Cape Fear” further inspire her creative pursuits.
Lisa Doucet
Lisa is Co-Manager of Woozles Children’s Bookstore and as a former President of the Atlantic Independent Booksellers is a strong supporter of bookstores as well as authors and illustrators. She is the young reader’s editor for Atlantic Books Today and reviews children’s and young adult books for several other Canadian publications, and has also served on numerous regional and national book award juries.
Josh Funk
Josh Funk is a New England-based software engineer turned prolific author, known for whimsical tales like the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series, How to Code a Sandcastle, and the It’s Not a Fairy Tale collection. In addition to writing codes and scripts, he sips Java coffee while crafting engaging manuscripts. Since 2015, he’s presented in person and virtually at over 750 venues, sharing his passion for storytelling at schools, classrooms and libraries. Josh has won numerous awards and accolades from his book collections that can be found on his website Josh Funk Books.
Joyce Grant
Joyce Grant is the author of six children’s books, including Can You Believe It? How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts. She is a freelance journalist and owner of the popular kid-friendly news website TeachingKidsNews.com. She teaches writing at Sheridan College and this year won an international award for her work educating young people about critical thinking and journalism. Joyce lives with her family in Hamilton, Ontario.
Mahak Jain
Mahak Jain is the author of Maya (illust. by Elly MacKay), winner of the South Asia Book Award and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year; Bharatanatyam in Ballet Shoes (illust. by Anu Chouhan), a Forest of Reading Blue Spruce Award nominee and a South Asia Book Award Honor Book; and The Only Astronaut (illust. by Andrea Stegmaier), also available in Portuguese and German. Mahak’s debut short story collection, We Are Only Human, is forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart. She teaches creative writing at Sheridan College and lives in Mississauga.
Alison Isaac
Alison Isaac, a Caribbean-Canadian writer from Toronto, has been recognized by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival and won the Rewrite Reads inaugural issue with Legacy. Her children’s book, Kookumbah, debuted in December 2020. Alison champions the African diaspora through her brand, Global Narrative, offering content and gifts spotlighting their tales. Her poignant tribute, “Dad’s bookshelf taught me about Black authors, and myself,” is featured in The Globe and Mail. An alumnus of the Humber School for Writers, she’s currently crafting a short story collection.
Christopher Sweeney
Christopher Sweeney has authored six graphic novels and two levelled readers. His most recent graphic novel, Feeling Weird, deals with youth mental health. He co-created the digital series La Junta, Sherlock@Home, and Women Are From Mars and the TV series, Parental Advisory had a related bravoFACT short film produced. In Seneca Polytechnic’s TV Broadcast program, he teaches screenwriting. Recently, he wrote, directed, and co-produced the podcast pilots for Talking Time and Scary AF Campfire Stories. He very occasionally updates his humourous parenting blog, Pop Culture.
Alexis Campbell
Alexis is an omnivorous reader who spent her childhood and early teenage years practically living at her local public library. Although her first part-time job was at that same library, she somehow managed to avoid becoming a librarian and instead works as a medical writer while still reading everything she can get her hands on. She has always enjoyed children’s books (perhaps because she never really grew up) and now has fun reading books by the young authors of KidsWrite4Kids.
Stephanie Lang
Stephanie’s parents taught her to read before she was old enough for school. Kid’s versions of Don Quixote, Beowulf and Greek myths were as familiar as Dr. Seuss and fairy tales. A love of the interplay of words and images has remained a constant in her life, from her studies at the University of Toronto and OCAD (Ontario College of Art & Design University) to her work in graphic design. In her spare time, she reads and writes poetry, plays the ukulele, and tries every craft she can get her hands on.