2025–2026 NARRATIVE HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST GUIDELINES
The Eleventh Annual Narrative High School Writing Contest portal will open for submissions on January 6, 2026, and close on February 4, 2026.
Submissions to our contest cover the globe: indeed, we have heard from young writers across the US and in fifty-five countries, from Canada to Malaysia, Serbia to Spain, South Korea to South Africa, and Pakistan to Peru—an amazing outpouring of new writing. Congratulations to all the students and teachers who’ve participated in contests from years past. Your work and passion continue to inspire and amaze us. Now on to creating this year’s story!
Who can enter?
Students from the US and internationally, grades 9–12, are eligible to submit to the contest through their teachers. Winners and finalists will be asked to provide identification.
What is this year’s prompt?
Here’s a note from our judge, Narrative cofounder/editor and bestselling author, Carol Edgarian:
Dear Writers,
If you were asked to name one true thing in your life, what would it be? If you wanted to tell someone the story of how you came to know that one true thing, how would the story go?
Using the prompt “One True Thing” as a springboard, we invite you to write a story, essay, or poem that takes your reader on a journey toward at least one crystalized moment of truth. Go to the places that are vulnerable, messy, authentic, and provide your reader with a moment of earned recognition. Write about what confuses or shocks or angers you, ask who you are and what you’re capable of, talk of things you might not think you have the agency to change or fix—and from this messy mix that is life, show us something that is true. It can be truth held by only one character or two; it can be a new awareness that is still raw or unguarded—all that is rich turf for writing. Create the space, conjure the world, use your authentic voice to take us on a journey toward something/someone or even a moment that you experience as true.
Be artful, be original. Be bold! Pick a subject or issue that confounds the world at large or troubles your life specifically—it can be something outside your window, your country, or closest of all, something in your heart. Write a story or essay of no more than 600 words, or a poem of 10 to 50 lines, that touches on this theme of truth. A messy world provides writers with ample opportunity to speak of truth. Be that writer!
You may turn toward the metaphorical or the literal, the small or the large, the individual or the systemic. Lean into the question, and ask others to join you. We each have something to learn and something to teach. We challenge you not to dwell too much on what is wrong but instead to turn challenges into what you want and what you love. Take us on a journey that is distinctly your own, and shows us what we’re missing. I cannot wait to read what only you can write!
—Carol Edgarian
How do I submit my work?
After the submission portal opens on January 6, 2025, writers can submit work through their teacher. Each teacher may submit the work of no more than ten students—with one poem, story, or essay per student, and each student’s submission made separately by their teacher. Schools may submit a maximum of thirty submissions total. The contest is free to enter. If you haven’t already done so, take a minute to create a Narrative account for free access to all the stories, poems, and essays we publish.
All submissions must be original works by the author, previously unpublished, either in print or online (including on social media and blogs), and unadulterated by machine-generated text.
How should I format my work?
Story and essay submissions should be in 12-point type, double-spaced, and no longer than 600 words. Poem submissions should be in 12-point type, single-spaced, and 10 to 50 lines long, excluding stanza breaks. All submissions must be in English.
What else should I think about regarding my submission?
Pick a situation or story that truly resonates with you. If it has heat for you, it’s much more likely to have heat for your reader. We encourage you to focus on using vivid images. Choose your words wisely. If it can be said in three words, don’t use six. Read your work aloud to test it for its clarity, urgency, and musicality. Tell us a story, paint us a picture, bring us into your world.
Why can’t I submit video or audio of a spoken-word performance?
We want to encourage you to take the time to express yourself through the written word, and we very much want to meet you on the page. That said, winners of the contest will be asked to record their stories and poems, and audio versions will accompany their published pages.
How will the winners be chosen, and when will they be announced?
For fairness, all judging of submitted work will be done with names, grades, and school affiliations removed and, further, entries will be sorted randomly by Narrative’s team—led by Narrative cofounder/editor and New York Times–bestselling author Carol Edgarian. A first-, second-, and third-place winner, along with the contest finalists, will be announced in mid-April. Carol Edgarian will meet to mentor the winning writers and edit their pieces over Zoom prior to publication.
Remember: this year’s contest portal opens for submissions on January 6, 2026, and the deadline for submissions is February 4, 2026.
What awards will the winners receive?
Cash and prizes totaling more than $3,000 will be awarded. The winning author will be presented with a $500 award. The second-place winner will receive $250, and the third-place winner will receive $100. Each finalist will receive $50. The schools of the winners and finalists will also receive special recognition and prizes. The winning works will be published in Narrative, alongside many of today’s great writers.
Is it okay if I get feedback on my work from my teacher for revision?
Yes! We believe that great writing comes through vigorous revision. Of course, the final product should represent your original work and voice. We do not tolerate plagiarism of any kind or work generated using AI. Let your heart and head be the creator of something wonderful that could only be written by you.
For teachers: Am I allowed to edit my students’ work?
Of course, within reason. We encourage teachers to review their students’ drafts and to create space for peer editing, just as long as the students’ work remains their own. You might direct your students to Narrative’s student resources, which include writing tips to help your students set pens to paper, our Writers & Mentors Videos, and two lists of exemplary written works: a Theme-Based Reading Guide and a Recommended Reading List. We also urge both you and your students to familiarize yourselves with the array of works already published in Narrative’s virtual stacks to gain an understanding of the quality of the writing we publish.
Need help getting inspired?
To help guide you, here’s a short video featuring the winners of our Seventh Annual Contest, along with guest judge Jericho Brown and Narrative editor Carol Edgarian as they share their thoughts on inspiration and writing.
You can also check out our Letter to a Young Writer by this year’s judge, Carol Edgarian, as well as recent winning works listed below.
The Tenth Annual High School Contest: What I Cannot Say, I’ll Say Here
The Ninth Annual High School Contest: My Note to the World
The Eighth Annual High School Contest: True or False?
The Seventh Annual High School Contest: Blind Spots
The Sixth Annual High School Contest: Escape
The Fifth Annual High School Contest: The Choice
The Fourth Annual High School Contest: The Mistake
The Third Annual High School Contest: When Everything Changed
The Second Annual High School Contest: Dear America
The First Annual High School Contest: Where I’m Going
I have a question!
If there’s something we haven’t covered, feel free to reach out to us at @email. We love to hear from students and teachers!
