We would like to receive free-form essays up to 5 pages in length. Anyone from any part of Finland can participate in the competition in Finnish, Swedish or English.
The competition period is from October 1 to December 31, 2021. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 on the Loan Name Day, which literally means ‘loan’.
In both categories, the top three entrants will receive a gift card to the bookstore (€ 30, € 50 and € 75). All three best will also receive the book Great Works (published by Tammi, 2021).
The best writings are published on the Metropolitan Area Libraries Helmet website. The library reserves the right to publish competition entries free of charge.
The jury of the competition consists of expert readers from the Helsinki City Library.
Enter the following information for the contest: your name, age, address, phone number and email address.
Send entries by e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by post Central Library Oodi / Writing Competition, Töölönlahdenkatu 4, 00100 Helsinki. Please note that the text you send will not be returned to you.
The writing competition is a continuation of the competition held in early 2021, whose theme, hope, inspired nearly 300 writers. The competition attracted texts from writers of all ages all over Finland. Most of the authors wrote the text in Finnish, but some also wrote in English or Swedish.
The winner of the youth class was Aada Pukki, 17, from New Town. The winner of the adult class was Matti Reinikka, 39, from Helsinki.
Source: Helsinki Center for Culture and Leisure
Source: The Nordic Page