Calling all high school seniors attending a public high school in the United States! We Need Diverse Books and Penguin Random House are happy to announce that submissions are open for the 2021 Creative Writing Awards, a scholarship program dedicated to furthering the education of students with unique and diverse voices.
Five $10,000 first-place prizes will be awarded in the categories of fiction/drama; poetry; personal essay/memoir; and spoken-word poetry, through the Maya Angelou Award. In recognition of the Creative Writing Awards previously being centered in New York City, the competition will award an additional first-place prize to the top entrant from the NYC area. Runners up will also be honored.
The 2021 competition is open now and closes on March 2, 2021. Current high school seniors who attend public schools in the United States and its territories, including the District of Columbia, and are planning to attend college in fall 2020, are eligible and encouraged to apply. For more details and to apply please visit the Penguin Random House website here.
For help in crafting your application, check out these blog posts full of writing resources and more:
The Winners of the 2019 Creative Writing Awards Share Their Writing Processes
Creative Writing Awards: 2019 Selected Poems, Stories, & Memoirs Winning Submissions
3 YA Authors Share Their Best Writing Advice
How to Write Consistent Characters and Build Realistic Worlds
