Eligibility
Eighth-grade students in the current academic school year are eligible to be nominated by a school committee or department. It is recommended nominees be decided upon by several teachers. Nominees must demonstrate evidence of effective writing. Entries are only accepted from educators; self-nominations will not be accepted.
Schools in the United States, US territories, Canada, and American Schools Abroad are eligible to nominate students. Nominating schools must be US accredited.
The number of nominees allowed from each school is determined by the school’s average eighth-grade daily enrollment.
Use the following guide:
- Under 100 1 nominee
- 100–199 2 nominees
- 200–299 3 nominees
- 300–399 4 nominees
- 400–499 5 nominees
- 500 or more 6 nominees
Themed Writing
The writing must be written based on the annual prompt developed by the Promising Young Writers Advisory Committee. Maximum length for the theme writing is ten (10) pages.
Students are encouraged to respond to the prompt in the way that feels most authentic to them. Examples of submissions include personal narratives, collections of poetry, screenplays, photo essays, etc.
General Directions for Themed Writing:
- The nominating educator completes one entry form per student and uploads the student’s “Themed” writings in PDF form.
- The student’s name should appear in the upper left-hand corner of each page. This is important so we can judge each piece accurately!
- The page number must appear in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
- The school’s name must not appear on the paper or within the body of writing.
- Please use legible type – no smaller than 11 or 12 point.
- Double space with one inch margins on all sides. This does not apply to poetry.
- Remember that only excerpts that are within the ten (10) page maximum from research papers, term papers, and novels will be accepted – not the full text.
- The Themed piece should be written from the students’ personal voice and perspective. Take care to not make it sound like a school assignment! The judges want to see your creativity and personality in the piece.
Judging
Teams of teachers across the nation will judge entries using a secure judging site. Entries with top scores will be selected for the Achievement Award in Writing First Class. Writings are judged holistically on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.
If you are interested in signing up to judge, please email studentwriting@ncte.org.
The writing sample will each be scored in three areas: Expression of Ideas, Language Use, and Unique Perspective and Voice.
Awards
Results are announced in May. Nominating educators will receive the results for their students via email.
To reflect various levels of distinction and recognition, there are four designations:
- Promising Young Writers First Class
- Superior
- Excellent
- Merit
All nominated students will receive their appropriate certificate from their nominating teacher. Additionally, those who receive the First Class award will have their name and their school’s name appear on the NCTE website.