U.S. Creative Writing Awards
Young writers are our future, and we believe in investing in the next generation of readers and authors. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, we host our annual Creative Writing Awards, looking for writing with a strong, clear voice by high school seniors who are daring and original.
Applications are closed for the 2025 Creative Writing Awards.
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We are thrilled to announce The James Baldwin Award for Fiction.
The James Baldwin Award for Fiction, a creative writing award for fiction for public high school students, in honor of the 100th birthday of the literary legend and civil rights champion. The award will recognize a student for an original literary composition in English for fiction with a first-place prize of $10,000.
We are passionate about encouraging the next generation of readers and authors and promoting diverse voices and stories. For 31 years, we have supported this mission through the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards, which in 2019 entered into an innovative new partnership with We Need Diverse Books. Through this program, we award college scholarships of up to $10,000 each to six U.S. high school seniors nationwide. In addition, honorable mentions receive “creativity kits,” which include a selection of Penguin Random House titles and writing resources. Creative Writing Award winners have gone on to become professional and award-winning authors.
This year, we are thrilled to announce the James Baldwin Award for Fiction. This award is one of six creative writing awards given by Penguin Random House. Other categories include the Freedom of Expression Award, Michelle Obama Award for Memoir, the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, and the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word. 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. Please find the full press release here.
Since 1993, this program has awarded more than $2.9 million to public high school students for original poetry, memoir/personal essay, fiction/drama, and spoken word compositions. This signature program continues to empower and celebrate hundreds of young writers each year and underscores our unwavering commitment to identifying and nurturing new literary talent.
In addition to scholarships, Penguin Random House hosts a virtual development week for the Creative Writing Awards winners each summer that includes one-on-one virtual meetings with Penguin Random House editors, networking workshops, a panel about career opportunities in publishing, and fireside chats with Penguin Random House authors. The week concludes with a virtual awards ceremony.
To read a selection of the 2024 winning entries, click here. To read a selection of previous year’s winning entries, click on the year: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
For more information please visit Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards (scholarsapply.org).
Contact us at creativewriting@penguinrandomhouse.com
Applications are closed for the 2025 Creative Writing Awards.
Our U.S. College Scholarship Award Winners
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Allison Curletto
Freedom of Expression Award
Fremont High School
Plain City, UT
The Impact of A Wrinkle in Time
Anika Bukkapatnam
Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
Woodbridge Academy Magnet School
Woodbridge, NJ
What's In a Name
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Isabella Rayner
Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
Marvin Ridge High School
Waxhaw, NC
Cafecito para dos, sin leche
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Madison Corzine
Michelle Obama Award for Memoir
Timber Creek High School
Fort Worth, TX
What I Wish I Knew: A Suburban Black Girl's Guide
Gloria Blumenkrantz
Poetry (NYC Entrant Award)
Frank McCourt High School
New York, NY
Global History 2: 10/26/2020
Karen Yang
Fiction & Drama
West Windsor Plainsboro High School South
Princeton Junction, NJ
Chicken Feet
Sagar Gupta
Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology
Alexandria, VA
Conversation Starter: How is your English so Good?
Ife Martin
Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word
West Bloomfield High School
West Bloomfield, MI
A Letter to Dr. King
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Arianna Steadman
Poetry (NYC Entrant Award)
Hunter College High School
New York, NY
Food for Thought
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Evelyn Lee
Poetry
Sam Houston High School
Moss Bluff, LA
My Mother Rejected God When She Was 19 But I Don’t Think God Ever Really Got Over It
Tandika Somwaru
Midwood High School
Brooklyn, NY
Poetry (NYC Entrant Award)
How to Write the Great Guyanese Novel
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Orlane Devesin
Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word
Hiram High School
Hiram, Georgia
Evolution of the Black Woman
Jeffrey Liao
Poetry
Livingston High School
Livingston, New Jersey
Museum of My Own History, Age Sixteen
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