Promising Young Writers Program
Contest now open! Nominate* your student(s) today!
*Please note that nominating educators must log in to their NCTE accounts to access the nomination form. An NCTE account is free to create and is not tied to NCTE membership. Don’t have an account? Create one here.
Promising Young Writers at a Glance
- The prompt for the 2025 contest is now available.
- Changes to the award that began with the 2023 cycle are can be found here.
- Review Eligibility, Award Specifics, and Writing Instructions here.
Contest deadline: February 15, 2025.
Purpose
To stimulate and recognize the writing talents of eighth-grade students and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.
- Schools in the United States, Canada, Virgin Islands and American Schools Abroad are eligible to nominate eighth-grade students. Nominating schools must be US accredited.
- STARTING IN 2023: Participating students submit themed writing. Beginning with the 2023 contest, participants will no longer submit “best” writings.
- Electronic submissions only.
Please email studentwriting@ncte.org with any questions.
Timeline
Early autumn: 2024 contest prompt will be released.
Until November 13: Present the prompt to your students. Encourage them to gather their thoughts and ideas and to write their first draft
November 13-December 15: Encourage your students to edit, to revise, and to finalize their drafts.
DEADLINE for All Submissions: February 15
*Late submissions will not be accepted.
Below are some exemplars of award-winning submissions from 2020. These students received a 97% or higher aggregate score from the judges who read their pieces and had high praise for the quality of writing.
Selena Chen (Judges said, “This is excellent work for an 8th-grade student – detailed, clear, strong voice. Really well done work.” And, “You’ve done an excellent job immersing readers into the moment with, as well as helping them to gain and understanding of, you. Your works are quite memorable, and are ones that readers will surely be able to connect to.”
David Yun (Judges said, “The BEST writing contains beautiful and vivid language to develop the relationship the speaker has with their sister. The THEMED piece brought tears to my eyes and chocked me up. Writing a letter to a natural place where the speaker bonded with family, most specifically his grandfather, was a perfect choice of genre.”
*These examples are meant to be used as inspiration to teachers and their students for the purposes of this award and to showcase the excellent work of these students. Please do not share or copy these students’ work improperly.*
Recipients of the Certificate of Recognition/First Class designation are listed by state below.
2024 Award Recipients
This year, schools nominated 177 students to participate in the Promising Young Writers Program. Students were nominated from 33 states and Puerto Rico, as well as Canada and South Africa.
Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.
*No First Class recipients
North Dakota*
Oklahoma*
Oregon*
Rhode Island*
South Carolina*
South Dakota*
2023 Award Recipients
This year, schools nominated 146 students to participate in the Promising Young Writers Program. Of those, 56 were selected to receive the First Class designation, 58 received the Superior designation, 27 received the Excellent designation, and 5 received the Merit designation. Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.
*No First Class recipients
North Dakota*
Oklahoma*
Oregon*
Rhode Island*
2022 Award Recipients
This year, 116 students were nominated. Of that number, 66 received Certificates of Recognition and 50 received Certificates of Participation. Each student submitted two pieces of writing, which were read by national judges. Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.
*No winners
Canada*
Alabama*
Alaska*
Arizona*
Arkansas*
Colorado*
North Dakota*
Oregon*
Rhode Island*
South Carolina*
South Dakota*
Tennessee*
2021 Award Recipients
This year, 90 students were nominated. Of that number, 56 received Certificates of Recognition and 34 received Certificates of Participation. Each student submitted two pieces of writing, which were read by national judges. Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.
*No winners
American Schools Abroad*
Canada*
Alabama*
Alaska*
Arizona*
Arkansas*
Colorado*
North Dakota*
Ohio*
Oklahoma*
Oregon*
Rhode Island*
South Carolina*
South Dakota*