The Next Draft

A Student Writing Contest on the 250^th Anniversary of the United States

As communities across America mark the country’s 250^th anniversary, NCTE and the National Humanities Alliance, with support from The Teagle Foundation, invite students to participate in a writing contest celebrating language and literature’s role in shaping our understanding of the past and future of the United States.

Eligibility:

• Participation is open to students in grades 9–12 (beginning enrollment in the 2026-27 class year) who are enrolled in a US-based school.
• Students must be nominated by a guardian or an educator. Self-nominated submissions will not be accepted.
• The number of nominees allowed from each school is determined by the current total enrollment in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. The enrollment figure used must be from an official administrative report of the most recent school year (2025-26).
  • Maximum number of nominations per school:
    • Under 999 students: 7 nominees
    • 1,000–1,499 students: 8 nominees
    • 1,500–1,999 students: 11 nominees
    • 2,000–2,499 students: 13 nominees
    • 2,500–2,999 students: 16 nominees
    • 3,000–3,999 students: 19 nominees
    • 4,000 or more students: 21 nominees
• Each prompt carries a top prize of $1,000 and two second prizes (one for grades 9–10; one for grades 11–12) of $500 for each prompt, payable to a student or their guardian.

Timeline:

• June 29—September 30: Contest open for entries
• October—November: Literacy educators judge entries
• December: NCTE announces contest winners

Writing Prompts:

Students may choose to respond to one of two writing prompts.

Prompt One:

Identify an existing literary work and describe how it has shaped your understanding of our country. How does this work enrich your understanding about our shared past, present, or future in the United States? What does this work inspire you to consider for the future of the United States?

This competition defines literary works as published works of literature or literary arts, inclusive of fiction and nonfiction literature, poetry, song lyrics, and film scripts. Responses should be no longer than 10 pages (not including works-cited), double-spaced, and include only the student’s first and last name and submission title along with the writing.

Judging for this prompt will include weighted criteria toward the analysis of the selected literary work in conjunction with original interpretation to the understanding and/or inspiration it prompts. 

Prompt Two:

Create an original multimodal work that celebrates what the United States means to you and/or inspires you to share about future possibilities for the United States.

Multimodal submissions must be accompanied by a reflective essay/artist’s statement of up to two pages, double-spaced, explaining the student’s creative choices using the tools of their chosen medium.  

This competition considers multimodal works to encompass a wide range of texts across media types. The following are examples of potential multimodal submissions; submissions may include other kinds of works in different mediums:

• Photo essays or pseudo-magazine covers, newspaper front pages, or film posters.
• Digital games, like a piece of interactive fiction or a Twine story.
• Video essays (should be limited to 10 minutes).

Judging for this prompt will include criteria weighted toward the original, creative work and the reflective essay/artist’s statement.

AI:

Because this contest celebrates youth experience and voice tied to the humanities, all submissions must be generated exclusively by humans. Generative AI word, image, video, audio, and other similar technologies cannot be used in the research, development, production, review, or at any other stage in the creative process.

If you are interested in becoming a judge, please fill out this form.

Send questions to ncteawards@ncte.org.

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