The Best Writing Contests & Programs for High School Students
Author: ExtracurricularHub Editorial Team · Reviewed by Parker, Founder — editorial policy
Published · Last updated
Article Summary
The best writing contests and programs for high school students: Scholastic, Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Kenyon Review, essay contests and poetry prizes.
Full Article
Writing is the rare extracurricular where the work itself travels: a winning essay or published poem goes places a trophy can't — including directly into your application file. The strategy is simple. Produce a small amount of genuinely revised work, then put it in front of as many judges as possible.
The one everyone should enter
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (grades 7–12) is the country's best-known student art and writing award — more than twenty art and writing categories, with regional Gold Keys advancing to national medals. For 2027 each entry costs $15 unless you get a fee waiver through the entry portal. If you enter one thing per year, enter this.
Contests by genre
- Argument and essays: our essay contests page tracks the national prizes — foundation essay competitions, civic essay prizes, and themed contests with real money attached. Many are free to enter and judged on the writing, not credentials.
- Poetry: the poetry listings run from recitation (Poetry Out Loud, through schools) to written prizes. Poetry's secret advantage: three strong poems can be entered nearly everywhere, every year.
- Cause-driven writing: themed contests like Bow Seat's contest, now called the Blue Planet Awareness Contest (ages 11–18, and free to enter in 2026), reward writing with a research spine — a natural fit if your interests span writing and science or advocacy.
The full landscape — workshops, contests, publications — lives on our writing page.
The selective summer workshops
Three programs form the recognized tier of high school creative writing summers:
- Iowa Young Writers' Studio — the University of Iowa's two-week workshop, run in the orbit of the most famous MFA program in the country. Application-based (writing sample), and the standard by which the others are measured.
- Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop — generative, workshop-heavy two weeks at Kenyon College, run by a major literary magazine. Known for actually improving how you write, not just certifying it.
- Sewanee Young Writers' Conference — two weeks of genre workshops on the Sewanee campus for students in grades 9–11, sibling to the storied adult conference. The 2027 application opens in December 2026 and is due March 1, 2027.
Comparing the first two? We wrote up the differences: Iowa vs. Kenyon.
A season-by-season plan
- Fall: draft and revise 1–2 pieces; enter Scholastic (entries open in the fall, and regional deadlines start in December).
- Winter: adapt the same pieces for essay and poetry contests; apply to summer workshops (applications typically open in winter and close by early spring).
- Spring–summer: attend a workshop if admitted; start the next year's pieces with what you learned.
Contest cycles repeat annually — always verify the current deadline on each listing. Many contests here are free, though Scholastic charges $15 an entry with fee waivers; the workshops charge tuition (Iowa's two-week residential program was $2,500 in 2026), and Iowa and Kenyon list need-based aid, and the free writing listings cover the no-cost end of the map.
Sources
- Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: how to enter (checked )
- Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs (checked )
- Iowa Young Writers' Studio, University of Iowa (checked )
- Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops (checked )
- Sewanee Young Writers' Conference (checked )
Facts in this article were last reviewed against these sources on . Programs change their dates and prices; confirm on the official page before you apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best writing contests for high school students?
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the most recognized (regional Gold Keys advance to national medals). Beyond it, the strongest are genre-specific: national essay contests for argument, poetry prizes for verse, and themed contests like Bow Seat's Blue Planet Awareness Contest for environmental writing.
Are writing summer programs worth it?
The selective ones, yes — Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Kenyon Review Young Writers, and Sewanee's conference are application-based workshops whose alumni networks and instructor letters carry real weight with English departments. Open-enrollment writing camps teach craft but signal little by themselves.
Do writing awards help with college admissions?
More directly than almost any other activity: a published or awarded piece is the one extracurricular an admissions reader can experience firsthand. A Scholastic medal or a national essay prize plus a portfolio is a complete humanities story.
How many writing contests should I enter?
Write fewer pieces, enter more contests. One genuinely revised essay or three strong poems can be adapted across several prompts per season — the marginal cost of each additional entry is low and many contests are free.
Featured Programs
- National History Day Contest — Create a history project as a paper, exhibit, documentary, performance or website. National History Day starts
- Iowa Young Writers' Studio — Choose a two-week Iowa City writing residency or a separate six-week online course. Winter 2027 online applications
- Telluride Association Summer Seminar (TASS) — Telluride will not offer TASS in summer 2027. Its residential humanities seminars are paused for review, with no
- Kenyon Review Young Writers Summer Residential Workshop — Write and discuss new work during a two-week residential workshop at Kenyon College. Prior sessions served writers ages
- National Student Poets Program — Poetry competition for 10th-11th graders. Become a literary ambassador, gain recognition, and build creative writing
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