Washington High School Writing Competition 2025-2026

Rules and Information

Categories and requirements:

Writing prompt: Mental Health and Quiet Struggles

Description: You can write about mental health in general or mental health struggles. Your writing can be personal or a more general evaluation of mental health in high school. Have you ever struggled with mental health? Academic pressure? Burnout? Be creative and have fun!

Note: This prompt was chosen by a board of 15 students across the state.

Can be a news article, short story/memoir, poetry, or scriptwriting:

• ❖ Less than 500 words
• ❖ Less than three pages
• ❖ Please be creative!
• ❖ If you're writing a news article:
• ➢ Interviewee names should be included
• ➢ Sources should be cited

Deadlines:

• ❖ Submissions opened on December 15th, 2025
• ❖ Submissions close on January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 PM (PT)
• ❖ Results will be announced on February 24th, 2026

Prizes:

• ❖ We will have three winners and two honorable mentions
• ➢ 1st place wins $500
• ➢ 2nd place wins $300
• ➢ 3rd place wins $100
• ➢ Honorable mentions win $50 each

Submission information for digital entries:

• ❖ If submitting for writing, send your entry to: writingcompetition.wahs@gmail.com
• ❖ Writing entries should be uploaded as a Word document or PDF
• ❖ In the subject line, please write your full name and the title of your writing piece
• ➢ Example: "FirstName_LastName_SchoolName_Title"
• ❖ Once your entry is sent, you should receive a confirmation email in the following 24 hours. If you have not heard from us in 48 hours, please send a follow-up email.

Judging:

• ❖ Entries will be judged by school district teachers
• ❖ Finalists will be judged by college professors and/or professionals
• ➢ Thank you Professor Valerie Manusov and Professor Jeffrey Seglin for judging last year
• ❖ Entries will be judged according to 4 pillars:
• ➢ Relation to prompt: Does your entry properly represent and capture this year's prompt?
• ➢ Writing structure and organization: Can we easily follow your writing? Is your main narrative clear?
• ➢ Voice: Is the writing style distinctly yours?
• ➢ Creativity: Is your entry interesting to read?
• ❖ Thank you so much to our 2025-2026 college-level judges: Professor Alan Mittelstaedt (USC), Professor Jeffrey Seglin (Harvard), Author Jim Robbins (Yale360, New York Times), Professor Leah Ceccarelli (UW), Professor LeiLani Nishime (UW), Lecturer Steve Scher (UW), Professor Valerie Manusov (UW)
• ❖ Thank you so much to our 2025-2026 school district judges: Mr. Alex Glover, Ms. Amalia Ramos, Mr. Brian Murphy, Mr. Christopher Alvarez, Mr. Joshua Villagomez, and Mr. Ryan Rahlfs

Contest rules:

• ❖ Writing must be original work. We will use plagiarism and AI checks. Your work will be disqualified if it is found to be plagiarized or AI-generated and you will not be allowed to participate in this competition in future years either
• ❖ We will not accept entries after the deadline
• ❖ Students may submit as many entries as they desire
• ❖ Judging decisions are final. By submitting to this contest, you are agreeing to the contest rules

Special thanks:

Thank you to the Bellevue School District team for making this happen!

And thank you to the Highly Capable office at the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)

Finally, we would also like to thank Qian Liang for his help in setting up this competition

Please contact corliezhuang8121@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Disclaimer: Please note that our judges are mandatory reporters and are legally required to report current abuse, neglect, or imminent harm