Student Writing Contest

Student Writing Contest

We’re looking for original, thoughtful, provocative student voices to answer this question: How has your education been compromised by budget cuts and tuition hikes?

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Nation Student Writing Contest, 2010

We’re looking for original, thoughtful, provocative student voices to answer this question: How has your education been compromised by budget cuts and tuition hikes? Essays should not exceed 800 words and should be original, unpublished work that demonstrates fresh, clear thinking and superior quality of expression and craftsmanship. We’ll select five finalists and two winners—one from college, one from high school. Each winner will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and a Nation subscription. The winning essays will be published and/or excerpted in the magazine and featured at TheNation.com. The five finalists will be awarded $200 each and subscriptions, and their entries will be published online. Entries (only one per student) will be accepted from May 15th through June 30th, 2010. A winner will be announced by September 15. Please send entries to studentprize@thenation.com.

 

Eligibility

The contest is open to all matriculating high school students and undergraduates at American schools, colleges and universities as well as those receiving either high school or college degrees in 2010. Submissions must be original, unpublished work (the writing can have been published in a student publication). Each entrant is limited to one submission. Entries will be accepted through June 30, 2010. Submissions can be e-mailed to studentprize@thenation.com. Please include the essay in the body of the e-mail. All e-mailed submissions will be acknowledged. Each entry must include author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail and short biography and school affiliation—and say “student essay” in the subject line. Please email studentprize@thenation.com for questions.

Read previous winners:

The Natural Order of a Small Town
Jim Miller: 2009

Transcending Trauma
Victor Lopez: 2008

Leave us Alone
Ryan Thoreson: 2007

Project Corpus Callosum
Sarah Stillman: 2006

Hold the powerful to account by supporting The Nation

The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration reaches new lows each week.

Trump’s catastrophic “Liberation Day” has wreaked havoc on the world economy and set up yet another constitutional crisis at home. Plainclothes officers continue to abduct university students off the streets. So-called “enemy aliens” are flown abroad to a mega prison against the orders of the courts. And Signalgate promises to be the first of many incompetence scandals that expose the brutal violence at the core of the American empire.

At a time when elite universities, powerful law firms, and influential media outlets are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation, The Nation is more determined than ever before to hold the powerful to account.

In just the last month, we’ve published reporting on how Trump outsources his mass deportation agenda to other countries, exposed the administration’s appeal to obscure laws to carry out its repressive agenda, and amplified the voices of brave student activists targeted by universities.

We also continue to tell the stories of those who fight back against Trump and Musk, whether on the streets in growing protest movements, in town halls across the country, or in critical state elections—like Wisconsin’s recent state Supreme Court race—that provide a model for resisting Trumpism and prove that Musk can’t buy our democracy.

This is the journalism that matters in 2025. But we can’t do this without you. As a reader-supported publication, we rely on the support of generous donors. Please, help make our essential independent journalism possible with a donation today.

In solidarity,

The Editors

The Nation

Ad Policy
x