Bennington Young Writers Awards

Bennington Young Writers Awards logo

Bennington College has a unique literary legacy, including ten Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, the youngest Man Booker Prize winner, countless New York Times bestsellers, and two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Deadline: November 1, 2019

Eligibility: 10th-12th graders

Awards: 1st place $500; 2nd place $250; 3rd place $125

What to Submit: Submit to only one of the following categories: poetry (three poems), fiction (a short story or one-act play under 1,500 words), or nonfiction (a personal or academic essay under 1,500 words). All entries must be original and sponsored by a high school teacher.

How to Submit: Online or by mail.

Get more information and read past winners’ work here.

New York Times TEEN ESSAY CONTEST

New York Times Teen Essay ContestThis teen essay contest invites high school students to connect a topic studied in the classroom with a New York Times article, video or podcast. Explore connections, draw parallels or explain the topic’s relevance for today.

Eligibility: Ages 13 – 19

Prize: Publication in The New York Times

Read Previous Winners:  See New York Times article by Katherine Schulten:  “Making Connections: 50 Teenagers Suggest Creative Ways to Link Classic Texts to the World Today”

How to Enter: Find link in above article.

Full New York Times Contest Calendar: Found HERE via the Learning Network.

Guidelines:

  1. Choose some piece of academic content: something you’ve been reading, discussing or learning about in school. It may be a work of literature, an event in history, a concept in civics, a phenomenon in science or something else entirely. It can be as small as a single haiku or as large as a world-changing event like the Industrial Revolution.
  2. Find something published in The New York Times in 2018 or 2019 (article, Op-Ed, image, video, graphic or podcast, etc.) that you think connects to your chosen subject in some interesting, meaningful way, and explain how.
  • What relevance does your academic content have to our world today?
  • What does it have to do with your life and the lives of those around you?
  • What parallels do you see between it and something happening in our culture or the news?
  • What lessons does it offer for us today?
  1. Tell us in 450 words or fewer, how and why the two things connect.

Deadline: January 21, 2019

The Apprentice Writer

ELIGIBILITY: Grades 9 – 12
SUBMIT: Poetry, fiction, memoir, personal essay
AWARD: Publication in the 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
QUESTIONS:  Contact Codie Nevil Sauers at nevil@susqu.edu.
DEADLINE: March 15, 2018

National YoungArts

YoungArts Writing
Deadline: October 13, 2017 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.

PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR NOMINATIONS: Additionally, YoungArts Winners are eligible for nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students who exemplify academic and artistic excellence. U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts receive a Presidential Medal at the White House and perform and exhibit at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian.

YoungArts ALUMNI: YoungArts alumni who have gone on to become leaders in their fields include actresses Viola Davis, Anna Gunn, Zuzanna Szadkowski and Kerry Washington; Broadway stars Raúl Esparza, Billy Porter, Andrew Rannells and Tony Yazbeck; recording artists Josh Groban, Judith Hill and Chris Young; Metropolitan Opera star Eric Owens; musicians Terence Blanchard, Gerald Clayton and Jennifer Koh; choreographers Camille A. Brown and Desmond Richardson; visual artists Daniel Arsham and Hernan Bas; internationally acclaimed multimedia artist Doug Aitken; television writer, producer, and director Jenji Kohan; New York Times bestselling author Sam Lipsyte; and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Doug Blush

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.