
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Competitions for High School Students
Updated: Feb 10, 2022

Creative writing is often not taught formally until the college-level, and yet so many students are drawn to it far earlier than that. In Sky Admission's writing competitions class, students can develop and strengthen their creative writing skills -- be it fiction, life writing, poetry, drama, or even nontraditional essay writing -- through personalized lessons designed to hone their craft. We match students with regional and national writing competitions we think they can succeed in, and then work with them every step of the way to develop, write, and revise their pieces for submission. Writing exercises aimed at generating content and developing the stream of consciousness essential for long-form writing are conducted, as are intensive revision workshops and lessons on particular elements of craft. An extremely important part of any creative class, and a staple of ours, is the intensive reading and deconstructing of published, successful pieces of writing; each week, we take a look at model examples, breaking them down to see what we can learn from them, and how we can adapt their lessons for our own writing. This class is suitable for anyone at the high school level who has an interest in creative writing and is willing and able to make time for creative work alongside regular schoolwork.
We've compiled the ultimate list of writing competitions that high school students can participate all throughout the year! Take a few minutes to see any of them suit your interests and get prepare to see some motivational work!
Princeton University Poetry Contest for High School Students
Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder / Sense of the Wild Contest
WOW Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest / Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
Goi Peace Foundation International Essay Contest for Young People
Update as of May 24, 2021