6 Writing Competitions for Middle Schoolers and How They Can Build Your Future
What Good Are Writing Competitions?
Writing is a broad term that encompasses several genres. Research, argumentative, poetry, prose, fiction, and historical writing are only some of the kinds out there. Most writing competitions were created with the goal of giving a platform for students to dabble in types of writing outside of academic works, such as essays.
Participating in a competition while you’re still in middle school can help you discover your likes and dislikes when it comes to writing. Perhaps you like writing for a specific genre or enjoy learning and employing new vocabulary. Whatever it is, middle school is a great time for students to explore their passions and begin thinking about what they want to do in their futures.
Broadening Your Perspective
Take this as an opportunity to broaden your perspective. Some writing competitions are designed for students to explore a topic or bunch of topics that aren’t typically mentioned in daily conversation. When you explore subjects that you haven’t given much thought to before, you not only learn more about this but also yourself. You may align yourself with new opinions, or be inspired to make changes in your own life about that subject matter.
Sometimes writing isn’t just creating a page full of words, but also keeping an open mind and taking a closer look at yourself. To create the future you want, no matter if it’s regarding your career, relationships, or health, it’s important to exercise a habit of keeping an open mind while being able to stand for your opinions and beliefs.
Writing as a Skill
While you may not necessarily be interested in pursuing a career in writing, writing helps build one of the most invaluable skills to set up your future: communication. While the skill of communication is typically attributed to handling verbal conversation well, writing can help you become better at articulating yourself just as effectively as speaking can.
Writing and Self-Expression
Writing competitions also offer an environment that welcomes expressing yourself in many ways. They can be a good starting point to get comfortable with voicing yourself and your opinions to an audience. It serves as a convenient feedback cycle as you get to cultivate your literary and communication skills, then an audience or panel of judges review your work and you learn what you need to improve.
A Few Writing Competitions to Check Out
Note that the information and links in this blog apply for the 2024 rounds of these contests. Keep up with the competitions you’re interested in to see if their information changes in the future.
See Us, Support Us
This is a writing and art contest for youth, ages up to 24. It invites young people whose parents have been through incarceration to share their stories.
Entries, including both written and visual media, are typically accepted up until the end of October every year. The instructions to enter this contest are at the bottom of the linked page above.
Ocean Awareness Contest
This is one of the programs offered by Bow Seat, an organization dedicated to empowering the environment with creative arts. This is a great opportunity to learn about the climate crisis and share your expression of it, whether they are your beliefs or personal experiences. While climate science is driven by data, numbers, and hard facts, your opinions about this ongoing issue of global warming matter just as much in making substantial changes in the world.
People from ages 11 to 18 are welcome to submit entries. Participants are split into either the junior division if they’re aged 11 to 14, or the senior division if they’re 15 to 18 years old. Submissions are accepted until mid-June every year. More information on how to enter the contest can be found here.
Engineer Girl Writing Contest
Since 2003, Engineer Girl has hosted competitions in varying formats. They’ve created a good-natured platform for participants to gather and celebrate the contributions that women and people of color have made in STEM.
This competition also has a division dedicated to middle schoolers, grades 6 through 8. Entries are accepted until the beginning of February each year. You can find more information on the rules and submission guidelines on the page linked above, and records of their past contest can be found here.
Bluefire’s $1000 for 1000 words
This one is easier than it sounds: Write a 1000-word fiction story and get a chance to win $1000. Your entry must be a piece of fiction that’s exactly 1000 words long.
This contest opens every year at the start of December and ends at the start of February the next year. Students around the world who are currently in school, in the equivalency of America’s grades 6 through 12, are welcome to join. Like a few of the other contests listed here, students are split into middle school and high school divisions. If you’re looking for more information, check out the link above and their FAQ.
NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Promising Young Writers
To be eligible for this competition, you need to be an 8th grader and nominated by a school committee or several teachers. Students from schools that are US accredited may be nominated and selected to enter the competition. A nominee’s submission must be on a topic given by the Promising Young Writers Advisory Committee.
This contest is a great opportunity to develop connections with teachers at your school. It’s even better if you get as far as winning a place in any four of the NCTE’s levels of distinction.
Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest
This contest given by Chapman University is purposeful in engaging with the stories of survivors or their descendants of the Holocaust. Participants are to interact with these memories using their own insights or personal experiences. It’s similar to competition from See Us, Support Us, in the sense that it offers an accepting space for students to talk about the extensive effects some historical events have had on them and their loved ones.
To participate, a student must first register their school in the competition with the help of a teacher and the school’s principal. There are four categories, each with different sets of criteria: art, film, poetry, or prose. Digital submissions are due at the beginning of February each year.
What Do Writing Competitions Mean For Us?
While it’s natural to have your eyes on the prize and try your best to win a writing competition, just know that you can win a lot more than a spot on the podium. Writing, no matter what kind, is a skill to be cultivated in ways that help you create your future and your goals.
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