15 Free Writing Competitions for High School Students
Writing competitions in high school are an excellent way to test your creative and non-creative writing abilities while simultaneously strengthening your academic profile. You are pushed to think critically, research thoroughly, and express your ideas clearly. Contests also encourage you to work independently, allowing you to challenge yourself and discover your voice and writing style. Many universities appreciate students who take the initiative to pursue their interests beyond regular schoolwork. Moreover, several writing competitions are completely free to enter, allowing you to compete without worrying about their cost.
Why should you participate in writing competitions in high school?
Writing competitions allow you to gain real-world experience in a subject you enjoy. By participating in these contests, you also develop practical skills that are not typically taught in high school. It gives exposure to finishing projects under tight deadlines and following specific formatting and submission guidelines. In some contests, you will be required to submit your work anonymously so that it can be judged solely by the quality of your writing.
To help you get started, here is our list of 15 free writing competitions for high school students.
If you’re looking for AI competitions, check out our blog here.
1. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Profile in Courage Essay Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: $10,000 for first place, $3,000 for second place, and $1,000 each for the other three students who secured a spot in the top five; Top 15 receive an honorable mention and a hardcover copy of Profiles in Courage
Submission Criteria: 700 – 1000 words excluding the bibliography and citations, and a minimum of five sources
Submission Deadline: September 1 – January 12
Eligibility: 9th to 12th graders who attend public, private, parochial, or home schools in the US; US students who are less than 20 years old and are enrolled in a high school correspondence/GED program in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or the US territories; and US citizens who are attending schools outside the country
This essay competition encourages students to choose an elected US official who served anytime from 1917 to the present and demonstrated an act of political courage as defined in John F. Kennedy's book Profiles in Courage. Your essay has to describe and analyze a particular political act in detail while discussing the challenges, issues, and consequences associated with it. The competition recommends that you choose an act that is more personal to you or has impacted your community so that your writing is unique. The submitted piece should be well-researched and include at least 5 sources, such as government documents, letters, newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews.
2. Singularity: AI Essay Contest by Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost and Prizes: Free to enter. Winners will receive up to $2,490 in scholarships toward any Veritas AI program.
Submission Criteria: Maximum 1,500 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography, and Modern Language Association (MLA) 8th edition citation style
Submission Deadline: April 26. Submit your essay here!
Eligibility: Students from any country enrolled in high school (grades 9–12) are eligible to apply.
Singularity: AI Essay Contest is an international essay competition where high school students write about the future of AI - its risks, its possibilities, and what it means for the world. Prompts are contributed and judged by researchers from MIT, Harvard, and Oxford. Free to enter and open worldwide, winners receive up to $2,490 in scholarships to any Veritas AI programs.
3. Princeton University’s Ten-Minute Play Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: $500 for first place, $250 for second place, and $100 for third place
Submission Criteria: Maximum of 10 pages, and 1 page equals 1 minute
Submission Deadline: January – April 1 or until 250 entries have been submitted
Eligibility: 11th graders from anywhere in the world
Each year, this playwriting competition by Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts accepts 250 screenplays from 11th-grade students around the world. Since you need not adhere to a particular theme or storyline, this contest gives you complete creative freedom. You are allowed to submit something you have previously written or that you have submitted in other contests. The competition will choose a well-established playwright to judge the entries, with past judges including Anya Pearson, Jiehae Park, Dipika Guha, and more.
4. Lumiere Scholars Essay Award
Location: Online submissions
Prizes: 6 winners (1 Gold, 2 Silvers, 3 Bronzes) will share more than $11,000 in cash prizes and scholarships
Submission Criteria: Maximum 2,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography, and Modern Language Association (MLA) 8th edition citation style
Submission Deadline: March 9 – April 26
Eligibility: High school students from anywhere in the world
The Lumiere Scholars Essay Award allows its participants to choose from a selection of prompts and write an essay addressing that particular question. While answering the question, you need to provide valid reasoning that supports your arguments. For this purpose, you should reference past research papers that have been done on that particular topic and include them as talking points in your essay. In other words, you don’t need to conduct original research. The prompt list covers various subject areas, including artificial intelligence, politics, sociology, biomedicine, and more.
5. AFSA National High School Essay Contest
Location: Online submissions
Prizes: The winner receives $2,500 plus a trip to Washington, D.C., including airfare and accommodation for the student, one parent, and his/her teacher to meet with diplomatic officials at the U.S. Department of State; and a fully funded educational voyage with Semester at Sea. The runner-up receives $1,250 and a full scholarship to attend the National Student Leadership Conference’s International Diplomacy program during a summer session.
Submission Criteria: 1,000 – 1,500 words, excluding your sources; double-spaced, in 12-point font with a one-inch margin on all sides of the page; Microsoft Word document
Submission Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: 9th to 12th graders who are US citizens or permanent residents or attend a public, private, or parochial school in any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia or US territories; home-schooled students can also participate in the contest
Organized by the American Foreign Service Association, this contest encourages you to explore global leadership and diplomacy through your essay. You will be required to use your research skills to write an analytical and academic-style essay that focuses on a foreign policy issue. For instance, the 2025-26 contest questions whether you think soft power tools like the US Agency for International Development or the US Agency for Global Media can help maintain global leadership or not. You should craft an argumentative essay depending on whether you agree to the statement or not.
6. JASNA Essay Contest
Location: Online submissions
Prizes: $1,000 scholarship, plus free registration and two nights’ lodging for JASNA’s upcoming Annual General Meeting for first place; a $500 scholarship for second place; and a $250 scholarship for third place
Submission Criteria: 6-8 pages in length, excluding the Works Cited page, MLA format (double-spaced and in 12-point type throughout, with one-inch margins on all sides of each page and page numbers in the top-right corner).
Submission Deadline: February – June 1
Eligibility: High school students from anywhere in the world
The Jane Austen Society of North America welcomes students from around the world to participate in its yearly essay-writing contest. While there is a specific theme every year, they all focus on the works of Jane Austen. For instance, this year JASNA wants you to choose a couple of male characters from one or more of her books and analyze those characters from any angle. You could touch on themes like romance, character arc, motivations, backstory, and any concept that interests you. Make sure that your essay includes quotes and passages from the novel in support of your points.
7. Polyphony Lit Summer Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: One winner and two finalists will have their work published in the upcoming issue of Polyphony Lit magazine, be entered for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards if previously unpublished, receive a full scholarship to Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor” course, which can lead to an editorial position at Polyphony Lit, and receive feedback for their submissions
Submission Criteria: Up to three pieces per participant, 80 lines or fewer for poetry and 1,800 words or fewer for other work, 12-point font throughout, including titles, Times or Times New Roman font, and 1-inch margins at the top and bottom, and 1.25-inch margins at the left and right
Submission Deadline: July 1 – September 30
Eligibility: High school students aged 14 to 18 from anywhere in the world
The Polyphony Lit Summer Contest is a non-fiction creative-writing competition to which you can submit a poem, essay, or other literary work. The aim of the competition is to encourage you to reflect on your thoughts and put them into words that captivate the readers. You will be submitting a personal essay rather than op-eds, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays. The contest will allocate a different topic for each iteration, and the most recent one is “Something Left Behind," in which students have to write about something they have long forgotten. The first 200 submissions are free; afterward, there is an entry fee of $4.
8. The New York Times Open Letters: Our Opinion-Writing Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: Winning entries will be published on the NYT’s online site and possibly in print too
Submission Criteria: Maximum 500 words, minimum two sources, out of which one has to be from the NYT, and written for the contest; participants should also submit an “artist’s statement” that describes their work, writing, and research process
Submission Deadline: February 25 – April 8
Eligibility: Students aged 13 to 19 enrolled in middle or high school anywhere in the world
If there is a particular issue that is more personal to you or has been bothering you, you can discuss it in your submission to this open-letter contest. The letter must be addressed to an individual or an association you believe can take the necessary steps to resolve the issue. You should convince them and other public readers that your chosen issue must be taken seriously and resolved. Since the NYT could publish your piece, choose an issue that would captivate its readers. Past winners have touched on topics such as the need for better healthcare, greater acceptance of neurodivergent students among their peers, and others.
9. Tiny Memoir Contest for Students: Write a 100-Word Personal Narrative
Location: Online
Prizes: Winning pieces will be published on The Learning Network and possibly the print edition of The New York Times.
Submission Criteria: Maximum 100 words, excluding the title and one submission per student; participants should also submit an “artist’s statement” that describes your work process for your contest piece
Submission Deadline: October 22 – December 3
Eligibility: Students aged 13 to 19 enrolled in middle or high school anywhere in the world
Another contest hosted by the New York Times challenges you to write a personal story or a particular incident from your life in just 100 words. There are no restrictions when it comes to the theme, style, or structure of your work. All that matters is that you show your unique voice in your 100-word piece and hook the readers from start to finish. Moreover, the NYT has an article that teaches you how to write a 100-word personal narrative, allowing you to learn and practice before submitting your work for the contest.
10. Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards
Location: Online
Prizes: $10,000 award for the first-place winners in each of the six categories and one best entry from New York City; Up to 100 Honorable Mention recipients will receive a “Creativity Kit” gift from Penguin Random House.
Submission Criteria: Maximum 10 pages, double-spaced, a minimum 12 point font size, the page number and the total number of pages mentioned on each page, and one entry per student; Students who submit spoken word compositions should submit both the written and the audio formats
Submission Deadline: October 1 – January 15 or until 1000 submissions have been made
Eligibility: 12th graders who attend a public school in the US, the District of Columbia or the US territories; are less than 21 years old; and are planning to attend an accredited two-year or four-year college, university, or approved vocational-technical school the following year
Penguin Random House hosts multiple creative writing awards in collaboration with We Need Diverse Books. These include the James Baldwin Award for Fiction, the Freedom of Expression Award, the Michelle Obama Award for Memoir, the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word, and the newly added Chinua Achebe Award for Freedom of Expression. They aim to identify high school seniors who are excellent writers and whose work demonstrates originality and strong opinions. The awards accept various literary forms, such as poetry, memoir, spoken-word compositions, drama, and others.
11. Bennington College Young Writers Awards
Location: Online
Prizes: $2,000 for the first place, $1,000 for the second place, and $500 for the third place; One student from each grade for each category will be awarded $250; these winners and finalists also win scholarships to Bennington College.
Submission Criteria: Students can submit their work to only one category.
Submission Deadline: September 1 – November 1
Eligibility: 9th to 12th graders from anywhere in the world
Bennington College has been the beginning for many great writers, including those who have gone on to become Pulitzer Prize winners, US poet laureates, MacArthur Geniuses, and authors of New York Times bestsellers. In line with that, the college runs this annual contest to recognize outstanding high school writers. As a participant, you are allowed to submit one to three poems in the poetry category, a short story or stand-alone excerpt from a larger piece in the fiction category, or a personal or academic essay in the nonfiction category.
12. National Youth Foundation “I Matter” Poetry Contest
Location: Online submissions
Prizes: $250 for the top prize, and the winning submission will be shared on the National Youth Foundation’s social media pages
Submission Criteria: Poetry or artwork that was created solely for this contest
Submission Deadline: July 23
Eligibility: Students from grades K-12
The National Youth Foundation invites students of all ages to submit a poem or artwork that expresses their thoughts and feelings about racial injustice. Regardless of whether you submit a poem, an art illustration, or both, it should be centered around equality. This particular contest was initiated by Isabella Hanson, one of the founders of NYF, who was deeply impacted by the shootings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Each year, Hanson and other African Americans who are well-established in their fields judge all the entries.
13. EngineerGirl Writing Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: $1,000 for first place, $750 for second place, and $500 for third place, plus your work gets published on the EngineeringGirl website
Submission Criteria: A 2D format of your artwork and a written summary and Q&A session with a total maximum file size of 3MB
Submission Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Open to 3rd to 12th graders; Students are divided into three levels: elementary, middle school, and high school
For those fascinated by engineering, this contest immerses you in an art-plus-writing project that demonstrates how an engineer’s work makes the world a better place. Firstly, you will create your artwork in any medium, such as photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, or others. Then, you will write a passage complementing and explaining how your art piece tells the story of an engineer's contributions to the world. Along with it, you should include a Q&A session that discusses your art and process, using the questions listed here. The contest helps you recognize that the creative processes in both engineering and art are very similar.
14. Parsec Short Story Contest
Location: Online submissions
Prizes: $200 and work published in the Confluence program book and the short story contest ebook for the first place; $100 and story published on the short story contest ebook for the second place; and $50 and story published on the short story contest ebook for the third place and the Youth Story Prize winner
Submission Criteria: Maximum 3500 words, double-spaced, Courier or Times New Roman; limited to only one original submission to either the main short story contest or to the youth story prize if you are under 19
Submission Deadline: January 1 – March 31
Eligibility: High school students who are less than 19 years old and can be from anywhere in the world
Parsec has been running this short-story contest for 30 years now, and each edition focuses on a particular theme. As you will find, the latest one is "Metamorphosis," which asks you to write a story in which you narrate an incident that changed you internally and externally. While there is no specific genre that you have to stick to, your story’s primary theme should be the one assigned by the contest. This is because your work will be judged based on your ability to use the given theme in addition to your talent in writing. Parsec recommends that you avoid characters like rapists, murderers, child abusers, or cannibals in your story.
15. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Location: Online
Prizes: $2,000 plus a two-year gift certificate from Duotrope (a $100 value) and five years of Chill Subs' Best plan (a $1,000 value) for first place; $500 plus two years of Chill Subs' Best plan (a $400 value) for second place; $250 plus two years of Chill Subs' Best plan (a $400 value) for third place and the next 10 spots receive honorable mentions, $100 each plus one year of Chill Subs' Best plan (a $200 value); All 13 finalists’ work will be published online
Submission Criteria: One submission per person, 250 lines, excluding the title and doc, .docx, .pdf, .odt, .txt, .rtf, .wpf, or .wpd format
Submission Deadline: August 15 – April 1
Eligibility: Open to high school students from anywhere in the world, except Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus (due to US government restrictions).
If you have a knack for humorous writing, then this poetry competition could be right up your alley. The Winning Writers association started this contest 25 years ago as a way to recognize poets with the talent to craft poems that are funny to read. Therefore, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t submit any serious poems. Your poem can be written in English or even in inspired gibberish. If you do not know where to get started, you can refer to this video by Winning Writers or this interview by Lauren Singer, one of the contest judges, who explains what contributes to the best humor poems.
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