Deadline: Early December. See website.
Eligibility:  Grades 9-12
Entry Fee: None
Award: $100 and possible publication in Venture Magazine
How to Enter: Guidelines
Judge: Dr. Roberta Clipper
Previous Winners: 37th Annual Contest Winners
Website: rider.edu

SUBMIT:

• ESSAY: Personal essay, labeled ESSAY, any topic. Max 5 double-spaced pages.
• FICTION: Short story, labeled FICTION. Max 5 double-spaced pages.
• POETRY: One poem. Max 50 lines.

RULES:

1. Type on the entry:
   Your Name and address
   Grade
   Teacher’s Name
   School Name and address
2. Include a letter from a teacher stating that the work is original and by you.
3. Entries must be typed.  Stories and essays must be double-spaced. Please give your story, essay and or poem a title.
4. Only one entry per category will be considered.  Choose your best writing and send only one.
5. Mail your entry postmarked no later than December 15, 2017 to:
   Dr. Roberta Clipper
   English Department
   Rider University
   2083 Lawrenceville Road
   Lawrenceville, NJ  08648

Entries cannot be returned.  Winners will be announced by May 2018.
Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish to receive a list of winners.

GOOD LUCK!

Deadline: Late November. See website.
Eligibility: High school juniors
Entry Fee: Free
Submit: Up to 3 poems
Awards:  1st Prize: $500; 2nd Prize: $250; 3rd Prize: $100.
Previous Winner: “Gunsafe” by Joseph Felkers
Judge: Princeton University Creative Writing Faculty
Website:  arts.princeton.edu

Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize 

The contest recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade. The jury consists of members of the Princeton University Creative Writing faculty such as Michael Dickman, Yiyun Li, Paul Muldoon, James Richardson, Tracy K. Smith, Susan Wheeler, and Monica Youn. Find guidelines here.

Online submissions are now being accepted for the 2018 contest — apply below. The application deadline is midnight EST on Monday, November 27, 2017.

A note for high school teachers:

Thank you for your interest in the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize. While we encourage the inclusion of poetry in the high school English curriculum, we ask you to please refrain from using the contest as an occasion to require all your students to submit a poem as a homework assignment. If you read the poems from the past student winners, you’ll see that they all carry a sense of urgency and necessity that is difficult to conjure when a student is obliged to submit a poem. Ideally, we hope motivated students will choose to enter the contest, and that they’ll come to see the writing and sharing of their poems as a joy rather than an obligation.

We’d also like to recommend the following poetry anthologies:

Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion, edited by Tamar Brazis
20th Century Pleasures, edited by Robert Hass
The Best of the Best American Poetry, edited by Robert Pinsky

Deadlines: Find your state here.
NJ Deadline: Early December. See website.
Eligibility:  Grades 4–12
Entry Fee: None
Award: Regional & National Honors
Submit: Personal essay in the form of a letter to an author, living or dead
How to Enter: Guidelines
Previous Winners: Click here for national and state-level winners
Website: Letters About Literature

Letters About Literature is a reading and writing contest for students in grades 4-12. Students are asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to the author (living or dead) about how the book affected them personally. Letters are judged on state and national levels. Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year. If you are in grades 4-12, you are eligible to enter the Letters About Literature reading and writing contest.

The 2017-18 Letters About Literature contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations.

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers recognizes outstanding young poets and is open to high school sophomores and juniors throughout the world. The contest winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop. In addition, the winning poem and the poems of the two runners-up will be published in The Kenyon Review, one of the country’s most widely read literary magazines.

The contest is named in honor of Patricia Grodd in recognition of her generous support of The Kenyon Review and its programs, as well as her passionate commitment to education and deep love for poetry. The final judge of the contest is KR Editor at Large Natalie Shapero.

Every year, submissions are accepted electronically November 1 through November 30.

It’s Simple to Enter

• • Limit of one, previously unpublished poem per entrant (please do not simultaneously submit your contest entry to another magazine or contest.)
  • You must be a high school sophomore or junior to enter
  • Make sure your file is in ONE of the following formats:

-.PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
-.DOC or .DOCX (Microsoft Word)
-.RTF (Rich Text Format)
-.TXT (Microsoft Wordpad and Notepad, Apple TextEdit)

• Submit your poem between November 1 and November 30 by pressing the “Submit Here” button on the website and uploading your file.
• No entry fee; it’s 100% free!

The Bennington Young Writers Awards are offered annually by Bennington College—whose literary legacy includes seven Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, the youngest Man Booker Prize winner, a MacArthur “Genius,” countless New York Times bestsellers, and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

DEADLINE: November 1.

WHO CAN SUBMIT: Students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Students may enter in ONE of the following categories: poetry (a group of three poems), fiction (a short story or one-act play), or nonfiction (a personal or academic essay). All entries must be original work and sponsored by a high school teacher. Short stories and nonfiction must be fewer than 1500 words.

JUDGES: Judges include Bennington College faculty and students.

AWARDS: First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $500; second-place winners receive $250. The annual competition runs from early September to November 1 with winning entries posted after April 15.

HOW TO SUBMIT: You may submit online or by mail (mailed entries must be accompanied by a submission form, available from your English teacher or by downloading here.) We welcome entries from international students—in order to submit online, please enter N/A in place of the CEEB code for your high school if it doesn’t have one.

DEADLINE: Submission deadline: November 1.

Last year, more than 2,300 students submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. We congratulate all entrants on their extraordinary submissions, and are pleased to share past winning entries.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information about the Young Writers and other programs at Bennington College, please contact us by email at admissions@bennington.edu or phone at 800-833-6845. Visit the website to see past winners.

Deadline: October 12, 2018 at 11:59pm EST (New York Time). No grace period of uploading of materials.
Eligibility: Ages 15-18, Grades 10 – 12 as of 12/1/17.  US citizens or permanent residents only.
Entry Fee:  $35 per category
Awards: See below
Categories: Visual, literary, design and performing arts categories include Cinematic Arts, Dance, Design Arts, Jazz, Music, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice, and Writing.  Writing  categories include Creative Nonfiction, Novel, Play or Script, Poetry, Short Story or Spoken Word. Visit: youngarts.org/disciplines for more information.
Writing Guidelines: youngarts.org/writing
Website: youngarts.org/

AWARDS:

• Up to $10,000 monetary award (total awarded each year is over $500,000)
• Exclusive eligibility for recognition as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts
• Master classes with world-renowned artists
• Access to scholarships, career opportunities and professional contacts

The National YoungArts Foundation identifies and nurtures the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts and assists them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development. YoungArts aspires to create a community of alumni that provides a lifetime of encouragement, opportunity and support.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison. YoungArts’ signature program is an application-based award for emerging artists ages 15–18 or in grades 10–12 from across the United States. Selected from a pool of more than an average of 11,000 applications (in 2015, the organization received a record-breaking number of more than 12,000 applications), YoungArts Winners receive valuable support, including financial awards of up to $10,000, professional development and educational experiences working with renowned mentors—such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sarah Brightman, Plácido Domingo, Frank Gehry, Jeff Koons, Wynton Marsalis, Rebecca Walker and Carrie Mae Weems—and performance and exhibition opportunities at some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions.

How to Submit: On-line application and submission of an audition or portfolio. NO references or academic transcripts are required. There is a $35 (non-refundable) application fee per category. Fee waivers are available. Applicants may submit in more than one discipline or category within a discipline. Please refer to the discipline and category guidelines for details.

New Jersey Council of Teachers of English (NJCTE) High School Writing Contest

Deadline: Early December 2018
Eligibility: NJ Students Grades 9-12
Entry Fee: None

Categories:
~Poetry (one poem, 50-line max.) –FREE CHOICE
~Short story (5-page max. double-spaced) – FREE CHOICE
~Personal essay* (5-page max., double-spaced) – RESPOND TO PROMPT
Personal Essay Prompt: See website.
Awards: Gold, Silver & Bronze Medal Awards. Gold Medalists receive Governor’s Awards
Website: https://www.njcte.com/hs-writing-contest/

How to enter:

Visit the web-site at njcte.com and follow the instructions provided. You must be a New Jersey high school student to enter.

To Avoid Disqualification:

1. Each student may submit a maximum of one entry in each category (i.e. only one poem, one short story and one essay).
2. Each teacher may submit up to ten entries for their students in each genre. Surplus entries will be disqualified in order of submission date.
3. The file submitted must be anonymous. Files with student name, school or class on them will be disqualified.

Awards:

• Genre Winners (poetry, short story, personal essay): Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.
  • Gold medalists are eligible for the Governor’s Awards in Arts Education (GAAE).
• School/District Winners:
  • Honorable Mention: Top scoring students
    • From schools with qualifying entries from at least 10 different students sponsored by at least three different teachers
  • Certificates of Merit – Top scoring students
    • From schools which submit qualifying entries from at least three different students

Winners will be notified on or after March 15. Questions: njctewritingcontest@outlook.com.

James Blume ’19 won the 2018 National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award for Superior Writing for his personal essay, “The Illustrated Generation,” which responded to this year’s theme, “Changing the narrative” as well as his short story, “Rockface.” This year, schools across the nation nominated 462 of their top juniors to participate in the Achievement Awards in Writing Program. Of those, 227 were selected to receive Certificates of Superior Writing and 235 received Certificates of Nomination. In addition to this recognition, James has earned many other awards for his writing, including a Scholastic Art & Writing National Gold Medal for Fiction for his story, “Are Rabbits Feet Really Lucky?” The NCTE entries were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style. Congratulations, James!

Sponsored by The Poetry Society

Largest International Poetry Contest

Deadline: July 31, 2018 @ 7pm EST

Prizes:

• 15 winners and 85 commended poets selected.
• Winners will be published in a print anthology with a 24,500 distribution.
• Commended poets’ names appear in the anthology. Poems will be published in an online version.
• Award ceremony in London.

Entry Fee: None

Eligibility: Ages 11 – 17

2018 Judges: Caroline Bird and Daljit Nagra.

Tips: For the competition this year, Caroline has said that she will be looking for “a poem that feels alive on the page… rich with imagery and playfulness, highly alert to language. ” Whilst Daljit remarked that “all I’m looking for is a poet having a good time, whether it be about a serious subject such as environment issues or a silly one such as a chocolate wrapper.”

Past Winners: Find the 2017 online anthology here.

Questions: Email: fyp@poetrysociety.org.uk.

Guidelines: poetrysociety.org.uk

Website: foyleyoungpoets.org

How to Enter: Submit on your own by 7/31 or send your poems to Ms. James by 5/29 to be included in a packet of entries from Newark Academy.

The Poetry Society
22 Betterton Street
London WC2H 9BX
Email: fyp@poetrysociety.org.uk
Telephone (UK): 020 7420 9880

“Hotel Lobbies,” a short story by Samantha Parelli ’21 earned a 2018 Governor’s Award in Arts Education to be presented at an award ceremony and performance at the Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial in Trenton on May 22, 2018. Samantha is being recognized for winning the Jersey Shorts Flash Fiction Contest sponsored by the Writers Theatre of New Jersey, a statewide prose-writing contest for students in grades 9-12. This year’s prompt was to write a piece of flash fiction in 1,500 words or less. Samantha’s piece was selected by professional writers based on the following criteria: voice, originality, authenticity, sophistication, craft, intention, and successful execution. You can find the story on the WAM blog along with a violin performance by Rebecca Slater ’18, which also won a 2018 Governor’s Award. Congratulations, Samantha!

Three Newark Academy students — two writers and one photographer — earned 2018 Scholastic National Gold Medals. Gillian Cohen ’19 won for her photograph, “Miles and the Birds.” Ezra Lebovitz ’18 won for his poetry collection,”’Cracking My Knuckles in Public,’ ‘The Grass Enters’ and ‘Champagne.’” Ava Sharahy ’20 won for her poem, “M.” This is Ava’s second national medal. Last year she earned a Silver Medal in Flash Fiction for her story, “Hero to Three.”  Of nearly 350,000 Scholastic entries this year, less than 1% earned National Medals. Gold Medalists will be honored at an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in June. Congratulations, Gillian, Ezra and Ava!

SHORT STORY AWARD FOR NEW WRITERS

Grace Period Extended Until March 10, 2018

Deadline: The Short Story Award for New Writers is held three times per year: February 28 | June 30 | October 31. A one-week grace period follows each deadline.

Eligibility: New writers whose fiction has not appeared, nor is scheduled to appear, in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000. (Entries must not have appeared in print, but previous online publication is fine.) NOTE: This is a highly competitive adult contest.

Length: Most entries run from 1,000 to 5,000 words, but any lengths up to 12,000 are welcome.

Entry Fee: $18 per submission

Prizes:

• 1st place: $2,500 | publication in Glimmer Train Stories | 10 copies
• 2nd place: $500*
• 3rd place: $300*

*Or, if accepted for publication, $700 and 10 copies of that issue

Announcement: Winners will be contacted directly one week prior to public announcement in our bulletins:

• January/February contest announces May 1.
• May/June contest announces September 1.
• September/October contest announces January 1.

Recent winners:

• 1st-place: Courtney Knowlton for “Mean Blonde Ponytail Girl”
• 2nd-place: Alexandra B. Chang for “Tomb Sweeping Day”
• 3rd-place: Amanda S. Torres for “Fortuna”

Website: GlimmerTrain.com

Guidelines: glimmertrain.com/pages/writing_guidelines.php

Sign up to receive Glimmer Train monthly bulletins!

36^th Annual National High School Writing Contest

ELIGIBILITY: Grades 9 – 12

SUBMIT: Poetry, fiction, memoir and/or personal essay

AWARD: Publication in the national tabloid print magazine The Apprentice Writer

GUIDELINES:

• Electronic submission via www.apprenticewriter.com
• Submit as a Word document. Each Word document should include only 1 submission.
• Each document should include your first and last name, and email address at the beginning of the document. It should also include your name in the header/footer section of each page for multiple page works.
• Poetry should be single-spaced, prose double-spaced, both in 12pt Times New Roman. (We may not be able to accommodate special formatting for poetry work.)
• Documents should be titled as follows:
  • Last Name, First Initial (Genre) Submission Title
  • ex.: Doe, J (Fiction) A Yeti’s Tale
  • Do NOT include symbols such as #, $, <, *, /, : and @ in document title.

WEBSITE: www.apprenticewriter.com

PAST WINNERS: Betsy Zaubler ‘17, Young Se Choi ‘18

Deadline: March 15, 2018

The Interlochen Review is an online literary journal edited by creative writing students of Interlochen Arts Academy.

Deadline: March 1, 2018

Eligibility: Grades 9-12 or high school postgraduate year.

Guidelines: 
Submit up to 6 pieces total.

• Fiction— Word count for each story must be below 5,000 words.
• Poetry— Long form poems are welcome.
• Nonfiction— Word count for each essay must be below 5,000 words.
• Hybrid Genre— These may include flash fiction, prose poetry, lyric essay, film essay/poem, photo essay, new media writing, performance documentation, mixed-media experiments, singer-songwriter compositions or any other hybrid work.
• Scripts/Screenplays— Scripts should be below 40 pages in standard manuscript format. Screenplays should be below 40 pages in standard screenplay format.

BIO: All submissions must be accompanied by a brief author bio. Please DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME anywhere on the submission EXCEPT for in the bio statement.
We do accept work recognized by Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and YoungARTS. We DO NOT accept previously published work from other journals, online or in print.

Claremont Review Annual Art & Writing Contest

1^st Prize: $750
2^nd Prize: $500
3^rd Prize: $250

WHO: Ages 13 – 19

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Up to 3 poems, one piece of fiction up to 2,000 words, and/or up to 3 visual art pieces. Flash fiction welcome.

FORMATTING: See website. Anonymous judging, therefore NO NAMES on manuscripts!

PRIZE: Cash awards and publication in The Claremont Review.

DETAILS & SUBMISSION: $20 entry fee includes 1-year subscription to The Claremont Review. You may also submit to the magazine directly without entering the contest for no cost. Find links on the Creative Writing News or email Ms. James at tjames@newarka.edu with questions.

* NA Students previously published in The Claremont Review: Maddie Christmann ’18 (play), Kiran Damodaran ’17 (poetry), Flannery James ’14 (fiction).

Deadline: Thursday, March 15, 2018

NJ Young Playwrights Contest

WHAT: The Writers Theatre of New Jersey invites NJ middle and high school students in grades 4-12 to submit plays to their contest and festival.

DIVISIONS: Elementary (4-6) | Junior School (7-9) | High School (10-12)

LENGTH: Plays up to 20 pages or 20 minutes.

TYPE: Plays with “realistic” structures and inventive work. Judges look for strong plot, characterization, dialogue, conflict, theme, & originality.

THEMES: Plays may be on any topic, but there is a special category, “Living with Disabilities” designed for plays either written by an author with a disability, or a play with themes or characters dealing with disabilities.

FORMATTING: Instructions may be found under the Submissions Guidelines tab.

WINNERS RECEIVE:

• Staged reading production of play with actors, a director, and dramaturg from WTNJ.
• New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education (10-12 grades only).

WEBSITE: Writers’ Theatre of New Jersey:  org/nj-young-playwrights-contest

* PAST NA WINNERS include Francesca Badalamenti ’18, Kianni Keys ’19, Gabrielle Poisson ’17 & Betsy Zaubler ’17.

Deadline: Monday, January 15, 2018

A Kansas nonprofit established in 1980, the Writing Conference Inc. hosts an annual national writing contest for middle and high school students.

Deadline: January 15, 2018

WHO: For grades 6 -12

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Each student may submit ONE entry: a poem, personal essay or narration (short story or play).

THEME: COMPETITION: We are trained for competition from the grade school playgrounds to the Olympic fields, from the classroom to the boardroom.  What values from competition are we learning and teaching our children? How do our practices of competition influence the academic, moral, philosophical, and political frame works of our society?

FORMATTING: Entry form required. See website.

PRIZE: Award winning pieces will be published in The Writers’ Slate whose audience is comprised of students and teachers at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. Submissions should be appropriate for this audience.

National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award for Superior Writing

Who: This contest is for current JUNIORS only.

Purpose:  To encourage high school students in their writing and to publicly recognize some of the best student writers.

Eligibility:  Juniors in the current academic school year are eligible to be nominated by their school’s English department. Nominations should be based on whether the writer exhibits power to inform and move an audience through control of a wide range of the English language. Entries are only accepted from teachers (i.e. the Head of the English Department).

Submission: If you would like to be considered for this award, you must submit to Mr. Stourton 6 pages of your best creative writing along with a 4-page prose piece (fiction or nonfiction) addressing the prompt: “Changing the narrative.”

Details: NCTE Flyer

Website: NCTE.org

Questions: Contact Mr. Stourton at nstourton@newarka.edu or Ms. James at tjames@newarka.edu.

Deadline: Submit essay and “best writing” to Mr. Stourton by Wednesday January 15, 2018.

Profile in Courage Essay Contest

Deadline: Postmarked by January 4, 2018

Eligibility: Grades 9-12

Entry Fee: None

Topic: Describe and analyze an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F. Kennedy was born. Include an analysis of the obstacles, risks, and consequences associated with the act. The essay may concern an issue at the local, state, national, or international level.

Requirements:

• 700 – 1,000 words
• At least 5 varied sources such as government documents, letters, newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews
• Demonstrate an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in PROFILES OF COURAGE.
• Include registration form
• Bibliography with proper citations

Role of Nominating Teacher:

• Provide students with support and advice during the writing of their essay.
• Make suggestions for improvement before essays are submitted to the contest.
• Review essays for syntax, grammatical, typographical and spelling errors and ensure the essay meets the contest requirements listed above.

Award: Ceremony at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

Website: jfklibrary.org

Louise Louis / Emily F. Bourne PSA Student Award

Deadline: December 15 if mailed by Ms. James (no entry fee); December 22 if mailed on your own ($5 fee).
Eligibility: Grades 9-12
Entry Fee: $5 if submitted by student. $20 (paid by Newark Academy) for an unlimited number if submitted by teacher. Checks made payable to Poetry Society of America. (Membership not required).
Award: One of the most prestigious awards available to poets. $250.
Submit: One unpublished poem
2018 Judges: Meena Alexander, Daniel Borzutzky, Eduardo C. Corral, Donika Kelly, Dorianne Laux, Lynn Melnick, Dean Rader, Paisley Rekdal, Maggie Smith, Jillian Weise, and Mark Wunderlich.
Previous Winners: See winning poems here.
Website:  poetrysociety.org

About:

Endowed under the wills of Louise Louis Whitbread and Ruth M. Bourne, this prize is awarded for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12 from the United States. Teachers or administrators may submit an unlimited number of their students’ poems, one submission per student.

Instructions:

•  Only one entry per student.
•  Previous PSA winners cannot be re-submitted.
•  Previously published work cannot be submitted.
•  No translations.
•  No poems by multiple authors.
•  Entry must have 1 cover page and 2 collated copies of your poem.

Cover Page:

Name
Address
Email (if available)
Phone
Name of the Award
Title and First Line of first poem in submission
Your name should not appear anywhere else besides this cover sheet.

Cover Sheet Template: It’s not a requirement, but you might find it helpful to use our cover sheet template.

Mailing Address:

Poetry Society of America
Annual Award Submission
15 Gramercy Park
New York, NY 10003

Deadline: December 15, 2017
Eligibility:  Grades 9-12
Entry Fee: None
Award: $100 and possible publication in Venture Magazine
How to Enter: Guidelines
Judge: Dr. Roberta Clipper
Previous Winners: 37th Annual Contest Winners
Website: rider.edu

SUBMIT:

• ESSAY: Personal essay, labeled ESSAY, any topic. Max 5 double-spaced pages.
• FICTION: Short story, labeled FICTION. Max 5 double-spaced pages.
• POETRY: One poem. Max 50 lines.

RULES:

1. Type on the entry:
   Your Name and address
   Grade
   Teacher’s Name
   School Name and address
2. Include a letter from a teacher stating that the work is original and by you.
3. Entries must be typed.  Stories and essays must be double-spaced. Please give your story, essay and or poem a title.
4. Only one entry per category will be considered.  Choose your best writing and send only one.
5. Mail your entry postmarked no later than December 15, 2017 to:
   Dr. Roberta Clipper
   English Department
   Rider University
   2083 Lawrenceville Road
   Lawrenceville, NJ  08648

Entries cannot be returned.  Winners will be announced by May 2018.
Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish to receive a list of winners.

GOOD LUCK!

Deadlines: Find your state here.
NJ Deadline: Saturday, December 9, 2017
Eligibility:  Grades 4–12
Entry Fee: None
Award: Regional & National Honors
Submit: Personal essay in the form of a letter to an author, living or dead
How to Enter: Guidelines
Previous Winners: Click here for national and state-level winners
Website: Letters About Literature

Letters About Literature is a reading and writing contest for students in grades 4-12. Students are asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to the author (living or dead) about how the book affected them personally. Letters are judged on state and national levels. Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year. If you are in grades 4-12, you are eligible to enter the Letters About Literature reading and writing contest.

The 2017-18 Letters About Literature contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations.

Eligibility: NJ students grade 9-12

Prize:
• Inclusion of five poems in the National Youth Poet Laureate Program Northeast Region Anthology
• Entry into the National Regional Contest, the winner of which receives a “book deal,” an anthology of their work.
• Consideration for the National Youth Poet Laureate Award
• A New Jersey Governor’s Award
• A special performance of the New Jersey Youth Poet Laureate winners.
• Additional opportunities to perform throughout the year as ambassadors of the NJ Youth Poet Laureate Program.

Submit:
• Works of poetry, rap, and spoken word.
• 5 poems, including a poem on the theme: “Mind Your Elders,” about senior citizens.

MORE INFORMATION:
• Creative Writing News: sandbox.schoolpress.co/creativewritingclass/
• Ms. James at tjames@newarka.edu
• Writers’ Theatre of New Jersey: wtnj.org/nj-youth-poet-laureate

Deadline: December 1, 2017

Deadline: November 27, 2017
Eligibility: High school juniors
Entry Fee: Free
Submit: Up to 3 poems
Awards:  1st Prize: $500; 2nd Prize: $250; 3rd Prize: $100.
Previous Winner: “Gunsafe” by Joseph Felkers
Judge: Princeton University Creative Writing Faculty
Website:  arts.princeton.edu

Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize 

The contest recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade. The jury consists of members of the Princeton University Creative Writing faculty such as Michael Dickman, Yiyun Li, Paul Muldoon, James Richardson, Tracy K. Smith, Susan Wheeler, and Monica Youn. Find guidelines here.

Online submissions are now being accepted for the 2018 contest — apply below. The application deadline is midnight EST on Monday, November 27, 2017.

A note for high school teachers:

Thank you for your interest in the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize. While we encourage the inclusion of poetry in the high school English curriculum, we ask you to please refrain from using the contest as an occasion to require all your students to submit a poem as a homework assignment. If you read the poems from the past student winners, you’ll see that they all carry a sense of urgency and necessity that is difficult to conjure when a student is obliged to submit a poem. Ideally, we hope motivated students will choose to enter the contest, and that they’ll come to see the writing and sharing of their poems as a joy rather than an obligation.

We’d also like to recommend the following poetry anthologies:

Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion, edited by Tamar Brazis
20th Century Pleasures, edited by Robert Hass
The Best of the Best American Poetry, edited by Robert Pinsky

The Bennington Young Writers Awards are offered annually by Bennington College—whose literary legacy includes seven Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, the youngest Man Booker Prize winner, a MacArthur “Genius,” countless New York Times bestsellers, and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

DEADLINE: November 1.

WHO CAN SUBMIT: Students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Students may enter in ONE of the following categories: poetry (a group of three poems), fiction (a short story or one-act play), or nonfiction (a personal or academic essay). All entries must be original work and sponsored by a high school teacher. Short stories and nonfiction must be fewer than 1500 words.

JUDGES: Judges include Bennington College faculty and students.

AWARDS: First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $500; second-place winners receive $250. The annual competition runs from early September to November 1 with winning entries posted after April 15.

HOW TO SUBMIT: You may submit online or by mail (mailed entries must be accompanied by a submission form, available from your English teacher or by downloading here.) We welcome entries from international students—in order to submit online, please enter N/A in place of the CEEB code for your high school if it doesn’t have one.

DEADLINE: Submission deadline: November 1.

Last year, more than 2,300 students submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. We congratulate all entrants on their extraordinary submissions, and are pleased to share past winning entries.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information about the Young Writers and other programs at Bennington College, please contact us by email at admissions@bennington.edu or phone at 800-833-6845. Visit the website to see past winners.

 A New Contest for Student Fiction

Eligibility: NJ Students Grades 9-12

Prize:

• Governor’s Award
• A special performance of their work read by professional actors.

Submission:

• Students must submit two pieces of fiction.
• Maximum 1500-word piece on any subject of their choosing
• Maximum 750-word piece of “Flash Fiction” on the subject of the Annual Prompt (see website)

Prompt:

In the space of 750 words or less, give us the complete life of a character. The challenge here is to present to us an individual, unique and distinctive, while also giving us a sense of that person’s entire existence, whether that existence was in the service of others, or with a philosophy of utter selfishness, or with an impact no one could have foreseen. Maybe this character’s life presents a lesson for others to live by (or resist). Surprise us with details about this fictional life, keeping in mind that the most surprising details are the ones we embarrassingly admit are too, too true.

More Information: wtnj.org/jersey-shorts

Deadline: December 1, 2017

New Jersey Council of Teachers of English (NJCTE) 2018 High School Writing Contest

Deadline: December 16, 2017 at 11:59pm EST.
Eligibility: NJ Students Grades 9-12
Entry Fee: None
2018 Categories:
~Poetry (one poem, 50-line max.) –FREE CHOICE
~Short story (5-page max. double-spaced) – FREE CHOICE
~Personal essay* (5-page max., double-spaced) – RESPOND TO PROMPT
Personal Essay Prompt: Awakenings (see below)
Awards: Gold, Silver & Bronze Medal Awards. Gold Medalists receive Governor’s Awards
Website: https://www.njcte.com/hs-writing-contest/

Personal Essay Writing Prompt: Awakenings

Write a personal essay or narrative about an experience of race, ethnicity, class, religion or gender enlightenment that was significant for you.

We would like you to steer away from general to more personal experiences and observations.  For example, you may choose to write about particular toys that were or were not given to you because of your gender, the expectations of important individuals in your life, decisions about where to sit in the cafeteria or what classes to take, conflicts over what information to share or not share in school, decisions about where to go and if you should go to college; the possibilities are wide ranging.

This prompt may bring to your attention a preconception previously unnamed, but it may also enable you to speak about your strengths and joys, about what unites us instead of what divides us.

How to enter:

Visit our web-site at njcte.com and follow the instructions provided. You must be a New Jersey high school student to enter.

To Avoid Disqualification:

1. Each student may submit a maximum of one entry in each category (i.e. only one poem, one short story and one essay).
2. Each teacher may submit up to ten entries for their students in each genre. Surplus entries will be disqualified in order of submission date.
3. The file submitted must be anonymous. Files with student name, school or class on them will be disqualified.

Awards:

• Genre Winners (poetry, short story, personal essay): Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.
  • Gold medalists are eligible for the Governor’s Awards in Arts Education (GAAE).
• School/District Winners:
  • Honorable Mention: Top scoring students
    • From schools with qualifying entries from at least 10 different students sponsored by at least three different teachers
  • Certificates of Merit – Top scoring students
    • From schools which submit qualifying entries from at least three different students

Winners will be notified on or after March 15, 2018. Questions: njctewritingcontest@outlook.com.

Gold, silver, and bronze poets have read at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2014 and 2016.

“Sounds of Winter,” a short story by Samantha Kany ’18, “August VIII” a poem by Katy Kim ’18 and “Song for the Hook Up” a poem by Ezra Lebovitz ’18 earned Honorable Mention in Rider University’s 37th annual national High School Writing Contest and are being considered for publication in Rider’s literary magazine, Venture. Their work will be forthcoming on NA’s Writing Art and Music blog, WAM. Congratulations, Sam, Katy and Ezra!

Every year the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English holds a statewide writing contest for high school students. This year three Newark Academy students won Bronze Medals for Poetry. James Blume ’19 won for his poem “Transubstantiation.” Kiran Damodaran ’17  won for his poem, “Collision Theory.” Dean Tan ’18 won for his poem “Shabu.” The award ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 27 in Scotch Plains, N.J., where the winning poems will be performed by trained orators. All three poems are forthcoming on the Writing, Art & Music (WAM!) blog. Congratulations James, Kiran and Dean!

Three Newark Academy juniors received “Judge’s Choice” distinction from the New Jersey Youth Poet Laureate contest for their poetry collections. Honors go to Young Se Choi ’18, Ezra Lebovitz ’18 and Mel Xiao ’18. Congratulations, poets!

Four Newark Academy students — three writers and one artist — earned five 2017 Scholastic National Medals. Annika Inampudi, grade 8, earned a Gold Medal in Flash Fiction for her story, “Stolen Hearts.” Ava Sharahy, grade 9, earned a Silver Medal in Flash Fiction for her story, “Hero to Three.” Ashley Sun, grade 11, won a Gold Medal in Drawing/Illustration for her self-portrait, “Reserve,” and a Silver Medal in Painting for her painting, “Bus Boochie.” Kiran Damodaran, grade 12, won his second Silver Medal in two years for his short story, “Carnival Games.” Winning pieces are forthcoming on the WAM blog and will be displayed on the bulletin board outside Mr. Austin’s office. Of over 400,000 Scholastic entries this year, less than 1% earned National Medals. Gold Medalists Annika and Ashley will be honored at an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in June. Congratulations, Annika, Ashley, Ava and Kiran!

Plays by James Blume ’19, Kianni Keys ’19, Gabrielle Poisson ’17 and Micah Rivas ’19 have been selected as finalists in the 34th NJ Playwrights Festival annual high school contest. James’s play, “End of the Line,” and Micah’s play, “All the Same Pieces,” were written in Creative Writing class this year. Gabi’s play, “Trust No One,” was drafted in Creative Writing in the 2015 and since revised. Kianni’s play “Smile” was written for IB Acting. Finalists are now encouraged to revise their work using feedback from contest readers. James, Kianni, Gabi and Micah will revise their scripts and resubmit them by March 23rd. Good luck, playwrights!

Poetry by Samantha Burggraf ’19 and Elliott Zorintsky ’18 won 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the the Writer’s Slate annual writing contest sponsored by The Writing Conference, Inc. Their work will be published in the April edition of the Writer’s Slate magazine, Volume 32, Issue 3. The winning poems, “Oblitus” by Sam and “A Twist on Translation” by Elliott are forthcoming on the WAM blog. Congratulations Samantha and Elliott!

National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award for Superior Writing

Who: This contest is for current JUNIORS only.

Purpose:  To encourage high school students in their writing and to publicly recognize some of the best student writers.

Eligibility:  Juniors in the current academic school year are eligible to be nominated by their school’s English department. Nominations should be based on whether the writer exhibits power to inform and move an audience through control of a wide range of the English language. Entries are only accepted from teachers (i.e. the Head of the English Department).

Submission: If you would like to be considered for this award, you must submit to Mr. Stourton 6 pages of your best creative writing along with a 4-page prose piece (fiction or nonfiction) addressing the prompt: “With great power comes great responsibility.” See a fuller description of the prompt here.

Questions: Contact Mr. Stourton at nstourton@newarka.edu or Ms. James at tjames@newarka.edu.

Deadline: Submit essay and “best writing” to Mr. Stourton by Wednesday February 1, 2017.

DAVIDSON FELLOWS SCHOLARSHIP

The Davidson Fellows Scholarship awards extraordinary young people, 18 and under, who have completed a significant piece of work. Davidson Fellows named as one of “The 10 Biggest Scholarships in the World” by TheBestColleges.org and one of “7 Prestigious Undergrad Scholarships” in U.S. News & World Report.

CATEGORIES: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Literature, Music, Philosophy and Outside the Box.

AWARD:

• Scholarship awards $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000
• Fellows are honored in Washington, D.C. with Congressional meetings and a special reception.

HOW TO APPLY: Visit: http://www.davidsongifted.org/Fellows-Scholarship  to review category requirements. Questions? Email DavidsonFellows@DavidsonGifted.org.

Previous Newark Academy Winner: Coleman Hughes ’14 for Jazz Trombone

Deadline: February 8, 2017

Theater Project Young Playwrights  Contest 

Website: The Theater Project; Deadline: January 20. 2017

A Kansas nonprofit established in 1980, the Writing Conference Inc. hosts an annual national writing contest for middle and high school students.

WHO: Students in grades 6 -12

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Each student may submit ONE entry: a poem, exposition (personal essay) or narration (short story or play).

2017 THEME: CHANGE: Change is found in almost every place – school, church, government, etc…  Or is it?  Some say change isn’t occurring at all or at least not fast enough. When change does occur, it may be planned or spontaneous. Create a  poem, narrative, or essay in which you incorporate your ideas and feelings concerning change.

ENTRY FORM: Required form found here.

PRIZE: Award winning pieces will be published in The Writers’ Slate whose audience is comprised of students and teachers at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. Submissions should be appropriate for this audience.

SUBMISSION: Student’s name must NOT appear on the manuscript, only on the entry form. Mail manuscripts and entry forms to:

                The Writing Conference, Inc.
PO Box 664
Ottawa, Kansas
66067-0664

DEADLINE: Sunday, January 8, 2017

NOTE: If you would like Ms. James to include your work in a packet of NA submissions, send her your piece and entry form by Friday January 6th. tjames@newarka.edu

PAST NA WINNERS: Samantha Kany ’18, Kiran Damodaran ’17, Gabrielle Poisson ’17, Liz Merrigan ’16, Zoe Rollenhagen ’14

Writers Theatre of New Jersey Young Playwright’s Contest

The Writers Theatre of New Jersey  invites middle and high school students in grades 4-12 to submit plays up to 20 pages in length. While they enjoy plays with “realistic” structures, they also encourage plays that are non-traditional and inventive. They look for strong plot, characterization, dialogue, conflict, theme, and originality.  Plays may be on any topic, but there is a special category, “Living with Disabilities” designed for plays either written by an author with a disability, or a play with themes or characters dealing with disabilities. Formatting instructions may be found under the Submissions Guidelines tab. Winning plays will be performed by professional actors. Past NA winners of this competition include Francesca Badalamenti ’18 in 2016 and Gabrielle Poisson ’17 & Betsy Zaubler ’17 in 2015. Deadline: January 5, 2017.  Deadline extended to Sunday, January 15.

NJCTE invites New Jersey students in grades 9-12 to submit ONE entry in each category:

• Poetry (one poem, 50-line max.) –FREE CHOICE (no theme)
• Short story (5-page max. double-spaced) – FREE CHOICE (no theme)
• Personal essay* (5-page max., double-spaced) – RESPOND TO PROMPT BELOW

See website for details.  Click here to register for the contest.

NOTE: Teachers may only sponsor up to 10 students per category. If you are the 11th student, your work will be disqualified. Ask your English or Creative Writing teacher to sponsor you. Ms. James will sponsor up to 10 students on a first come/first served basis.

Louise Louis / Emily F. Bourne Student Award, $250

Endowed under the wills of Louise Louis Whitbread and Ruth M. Bourne, this prize is awarded for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12 from the United States. Teachers may submit an unlimited number of their students’ poems, one submission per student.

 Submission Details & Instructions

•  Each student may only submit one poem.
•  No previously published work can be submitted.
•  Translations are ineligible.
•  Poems by more than one author will not be accepted.
•  Entry should have one cover page and two collated copies of your poem.

The Cover Page Must Include:

Name
Address
Email
Phone
Name of the Award: Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Award
Title and First Line of first poem in submission
Your name should NOT appear anywhere else besides this cover sheet.

Cover Sheet Template: It’s not a requirement, but you might find it helpful to use our cover sheet template.

Manuscript: Must include a header with the name of the award (Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Award). Your own name must not appear on the poem.

Email or hand 2 copies of your poem and your cover sheet to Ms. James by 3pm on Wednesday, 12/14. There is no entry fee if your poem is included in the Newark Academy packet of submissions. For information about submitting your work on your own for a $5 entry fee, see the website.

Marcucci, Merrigan & Damodaran donning their National Medals

Three Newark Academy students earned 2016 Scholastic Writing National Medals.  Kiran Damodaran ’17 and Elizabeth Merrigan ’16 earned Silver Medals for Poetry and James Marcucci ’16 earned a Gold Medal for novel writing. Of over 320,000 Scholastic entries in 2016, National Medal winners represent less than 1% of submissions. Of those, only 15 students across the nation received Gold Medals in Novel Writing. James won for his novel excerpt, THE LONG HARVEST. Kiran won for his poem “Collision Theory” and Elizabeth for her poems “Archipelago,” “Man of the Valley,” “Turbulence,” “Watermelons” and “In the Wallpaper.” James was honored at at award ceremony in Carnegie Hall in June. Congratulations Liz, Kiran and James!

The Bennington Young Writers Awards are offered annually by Bennington College—whose literary legacy includes seven Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, the youngest Man Booker Prize winner, a MacArthur “Genius,” countless New York Times bestsellers, and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

WHO CAN SUBMIT: Students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Students may enter in ONE of the following categories: poetry (a group of three poems), fiction (a short story or one-act play), or nonfiction (a personal or academic essay). All entries must be original work and sponsored by a high school teacher. Short stories and nonfiction must be fewer than 1500 words.

JUDGES: Judges include Bennington College faculty and students.

AWARDS: First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $500; second-place winners receive $250. The annual competition runs from early September to November 1 with winning entries posted after April 15.

HOW TO SUBMIT: You may submit online or by mail (mailed entries must be accompanied by a submission form, available from your English teacher or by downloading here.) We welcome entries from international students—in order to submit online, please enter N/A in place of the CEEB code for your high school if it doesn’t have one.

DEADLINE: Submission deadline: November 1.

Last year, more than 2,300 students submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. We congratulate all entrants on their extraordinary submissions, and are pleased to share past winning entries.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information about the Young Writers and other programs at Bennington College, please contact us by email at admissions@bennington.edu or phone at 800-833-6845. Visit the website to see past winners.

Applications are open for Winter Tangerine’s fluid internship program. They are looking for passionate, innovative, and creative writers & artists to join them for individually-designed four-month internships. Interns will have the opportunity to discuss and select pieces for publication, develop flash workshops, and pitch features, columns and interviews.

For more info & to apply, go to www.wintertangerine.com/internship

“Thanksgiving Surprise,” a play by Betsy Zaubler written and revised in Creative Writing Workshop, was the sole Honorable Mention recipient in the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts national 10-minute play competition. This contest is open to high school juniors across the country and is adjudicated by Princeton Theatre Program faculty members. Each year, four awards are given: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place and Honorable Mention. Brava, Betsy!

“Thanksgiving Surprise,” a play by Betsy Zaubler ’17 won third place in the 2016 Theater Project’s Fourteenth Annual Young Playwrights Competition and will be performed on March 12, 2016 at the Cranford Community Center. Last year, “Thanksgiving Surprise,” won the 32nd annual NJ Playwrights Theatre Contest and was performed by professional actors at the NJ Playwrights Festival on June 2, 2015. Betsy worked closely with NJ Playwrights’ directors, dramaturges and actors to bring her play to life. By virtue of this success, Betsy was given membership in the Dramatists Guild of America and was awarded a 2015 Governors Awards in Arts Education.

Olivia Collazo performing in Zaubler’s play, “Robin Hood & The Fairy Tale Friends to the Rescue”

In addition, Studio Players Community Theater in Montclair commissioned Betsy to write and direct a play, “Robin Hood & The Fairy Tale Friends to the Rescue,” which she composed during Creative Writing last year. It ran for eight performances, 1:30 and 3:30 on February 13, 14, 20 and 21, 2016. Kianni Keys ’19 performed in the play. Several Newark Academy faculty members and students attended this thoroughly enjoyable production. Brava, Betsy!