Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards

The Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards celebrate diverse young voices and emerging writers. Since 1993, this signature program has distributed over $2.9 million to student writers and continues to empower hundreds of young authors each year.

Interested in the competition?

Competition Overview

Current high school senior at a public high school in the U.S.

Eligibility

Free

Entry Fee

January 15, 2026, or once 1,000 applications are received

Submission Deadline

Early June 2026

Winner Notification

📌 Note: Aralia is not the organizer of this competition. For official rules, deadlines, and updates, please refer directly to the competition organizer. Aralia provides listings and information about competitions for student reference. Aralia is an online education platform offering competition preparation classes to students worldwide.

Competition Details

1. Eligibility

Applicants must meet ALL of the following requirements:

Be a current high school senior at a public high school in the United States
Be graduating in Spring 2026
Be 21 years of age or under
Plan to enroll in an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school in Fall 2026

Family members, employees of Bertelsmann, Penguin Random House, or their subsidiaries, and previous award winners from this program are ineligible to participate in this contest.

2. Prompt

Topic: Book bans are on the rise in America. Books by and about LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities are disproportionately targeted.
Assignment: Tell us about one banned book that changed your life and why.

3. Genre

Submit one original literary composition in English in one of these genres:

Poetry
Spoken Word
Fiction
Personal Essay / Memoir
Freedom of Expression (see prompt below)

4. Awards

$10,000 Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word
$10,000 Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
$10,000 James Baldwin Award for Fiction
$10,000 Michelle Obama Award for Memoir
$10,000 Chinua Achebe Award for Freedom of Expression
$10,000 NYC Regional Prize for any category (NYC area students only)

Up to 100 Honorable Mentions recipients receive a “Creativity Kit” gift from Penguin Random House

Winners are invited to participate in a virtual development week featuring 1-on-1 meetings with Penguin Random House editors, networking workshops, career panel on publishing opportunities, and fireside chats with PRH authors.