8 Competitive Essay Contests for Gifted Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Writing and communication skills are essential in any field. If you are a gifted middle schooler looking to flex your writing muscle, you can consider participating in essay contests. Covering a range of topics, themes, and prompts, you can explore various subjects depending on your interests. You can also choose from fiction or nonfiction contests.
These contests award prizes and enable you to gain recognition for your work. Some may also publish your writing. If you want to start writing, here are some contests for you to participate in.
8 Competitive Essay Contests for Gifted Middle School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost / Prize: Scholarships up to $3,000
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 6 winners
Application Deadline: April 26
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
Middle schoolers looking to challenge their writing skills can opt for the Lumiere Junior Scholars Essay Contest. The contest offers a few essay prompts for you to choose from and respond to. You are challenged to question your thinking and assumptions. Through this contest, you can expect to strengthen your argumentation, critical thinking, and writing skills. The Academic Advisory Committee, distinguished professors and researchers, reviews all entries for intellectual independence and persuasive arguments. Winners receive a range of scholarship awards.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Prize: Winning entries published on The Learning Network
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: Not specified
Application Deadline: April 8
Eligibility: Students ages 13–19
This contest gives you the opportunity to write a letter to the New York Times. According to the rules, you must write an open letter to people or groups about an issue that you are passionate about. The letter must be meaningful to and appropriate for the NYT audience. Writing a letter of 500 words, you must address it to a specific target audience and add a call for action. The letter’s contents must also be supported by at least two sources, including one from NYT. The winning entry will be published on The Learning Network.
Location: Virtual; award ceremony in London
Cost / Prize: Varies by placement
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 3 winners per category
Application Deadline: May 31
Eligibility: Students under age 19
If you are looking to write about various topics and questions, this competition by the John Locke Institute may meet your requirements. Winners are picked based on who demonstrates independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis, and persuasive style. As part of your submission, you respond to a question on the subject of your choice. You can also submit essays in more than one subject but must answer only one question in each subject. Academics from leading educational institutions judge the submissions. You must also appropriately cite your facts with relevant sources. If you win, you can attend the award ceremony and an invite-only conference in London.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $65 per student
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 5 winners
Dates: Submission by March 20
Application Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
The Harvard Political Review invites middle schoolers to write about political science and social issues. You get the opportunity to explore global political dynamics, the influence of international institutions, local community challenges, the power of youth activism, and the role of technology in shaping politics through your entry. You respond to a prompt in the form of an essay. This essay must be an opinion piece similar to articles published in the Harvard Political Review. A virtual training session is available, which helps you hone your argument and critical thinking. Winning entries are published in HPR.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $29 (early) or $50 (regular)
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 3 winners
Application Deadline: December 10 (early) | December 30 (regular)
Eligibility: Students in grades 8–12
This is another prestigious competition that provides you with the opportunity to write about international relations and global issues. Yale students review and judge all submissions, while providing insights on political topics and feedback on your writing. To stand the chance to win, you must justify the chosen global issue and propose ideas for solutions in your writing. As a result, you learn to think in terms of public policy development. Webinars on essay writing help you refine argumentation and critical thinking skills. Winners typically receive prize money.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Prize: $1,000
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 4 winners
Application Deadline: June 3
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
This writing competition has a changing theme each year for all participants to write about. The theme or prompt can serve as a line or inspiration for your writing. Depending on your writing style, you can submit an entry, including a story, essay, poem, scene, monologue, or something else. Your submission must be under 1,000 words. You also benefit from the resources and references provided by the organization that provide context and information regarding the prompt. You submit an Intent to Participate prompt in May and send in the submission in June.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Prize: Varies by placement
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 3 winners
Application Deadline: September (tentative)
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
Fans of Thomas Wolfe may opt for this competition. Here, you are provided with a lesson plan, vocabulary, and activities related to a particular Wolfe story. You use the writing prompts as inspiration to write your own short work of creative fiction. Winners are selected and announced for every category. The award ceremony is held online as well as in person. If you win, you can choose to attend the in-person ceremony at Historic Victorian Home in Downtown Asheville, NC.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Prize: Cash awards up to $1,000
Acceptance Rate / Cohort Size: 3 winners
Application Deadline: June 8
Eligibility: Students ages 11–18
Students passionate about marine life and the ocean can opt for this contest. You can submit an entry in any of the available categories, including creative writing and poetry. For this contest, you write about your personal connection with the ocean and how it sustains, protects, and inspires us. Different sub-themes are available, allowing you to respond to the prompt accordingly. As you build your writing skills, your submissions become part of your portfolio and enhance your knowledge about environmental issues.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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