Achievement Awards in Writing
Achievement Awards in Writing supports high school writers by recognizing outstanding responses to an annual prompt, encouraging personal voice, creativity, and writing that informs and moves an audience.
Funder: National Council of Teachers of English
Due Dates: February 15, 2027 (Nomination deadline, 11:59 p.m. PT)
Funding Amounts: Certificates and public recognition
Summary: Recognizes outstanding writing by high school sophomores and juniors responding to the annual writing prompt.
Key Information: Educator nomination is required; students cannot self-nominate.
Description
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) runs the Achievement Awards in Writing to encourage high school sophomores and juniors to write and publicly recognize outstanding student writing. The program recognizes student-authored work through certificates and, for First Class recipients, publication of their names and schools on NCTE’s website.
The 2027 prompt, “The Meaning of Literacy Today,” asks students to explore literacy, identity, and voice. Responses may address interpreting messages, navigating information and misinformation, or finding one’s voice through personal experience and connections to texts. Students may choose the format that best communicates their ideas, including personal narratives, arguments, letters, poetry, scripts, multimedia compositions, analytical commentary, graphic narratives, comics, or hybrid creative work.
