Writing Contest

Entries for the 2026 Writing Contest are due by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

Use this Geneseo Writing Contest submission form to submit your best work written in 2025 or 2026 online for the annual Geneseo Writing Awards in the following categories:

• Research Paper
• Critical Essay
• First-Year Critical Writing: WRTG 105
• Essay in Diversity Studies
• Essays in Black and Africana Studies
• Reflective Writing
• Drama and Screenwriting
• Poetry
• Literary Fiction
• Creative Non-Fiction

• Submit 2026 Geneseo Writing Contest entries online via a Google form by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8. Since submissions will be judged anonymously, entrants’ names cannot appear on the manuscripts.
• Upload your entry as a Word doc(x), PDF, or video file. Please do not share a Google doc, since it cannot be composed or reviewed anonymously. You can download a Google doc as a Word doc.
• You may submit separate entries to more than one contest category, but you may submit only one entry in any category. No simultaneous submissions: you cannot submit the same piece of work to more than one category in the contest.
• Judges might move your entry to a more relevant category.
• Although the English Department organizes the Writing Contest, it is open to any current Geneseo student, and we strongly encourage you to submit excellent writing on any subject, from any academic program.
• In 2026, winners of the Writing Contest will be honored at the English Department awards ceremony on Study Day, Thursday, May 7.
• Please address any questions to Dr. Gillian Paku in the English Department: paku@geneseo.edu.

Research Paper

This category recognizes student work engaging systematically and centrally with research. The research can be primary (e.g., archival or exhibit sources) and/or secondary (e.g., scholarly or argument sources). Include citations and a formatted bibliography in any standard documentation style. The maximum length of the body of the essay is ten pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font; bibliography pages are extra. If you submit an essay that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor. You can excerpt a longer essay, but do not exceed the contest page limit.

Critical Essay

Entries in this category focus upon literary texts, individual case studies, and other closely interpreted documents. Although such entries might include research elements, research is not the central focus. The maximum length of essays in this category is ten pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font. If you submit an essay that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor. You can excerpt a longer essay, but do not exceed the contest page limit.

First-Year Critical Writing: WRTG 105

Essays in this category should be a version of work submitted in Spring 2025, Fall 2025, or Spring 2026 for a section of WRTG 105, our first-year critical writing and thinking course. The maximum length of the body of the essay is ten pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font; any bibliography pages are extra. If you submit an essay that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor. You can excerpt a longer essay, but do not exceed the contest page limit.

Essay in Diversity Studies

Essays in this category should engage with Geneseo’s definition of diversity in our mission statement: “Diversity at Geneseo is defined in part as differences in individuals that are manifested in their race, ethnicity, national origin, language heritage, world-view, religion, gender, sexual orientation, class, physical ability, learning style, geographic background, mental health, age, and relationship status.”

The maximum length of the body of the essay is ten pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font; any bibliography pages are extra. If you submit an essay that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor. You can excerpt a longer essay, but do not exceed the contest page limit.

The Essay in Diversity Studies honors a former Geneseo faculty member and is awarded as the Jérome de Romanet de Beaune Award for an Essay in Diversity Studies.

Essays in Black and Africana Studies

Essays can be submitted in one of these categories:
1. Best Analytical Essay
2. Best Research Paper
3. Best Creative Writing
 
Students can submit two papers on the field of Black, African, and Africana studies completed between May 2025 and April 2026. You may submit separate entries to more than one contest category, but you may submit only one entry in any category. No simultaneous submissions: you cannot submit the same piece of work to more than one category in te contest.
 
It is NOT necessary for the paper to have been completed as part of a BLKS course, and applicants need not be Black and Africana Studies majors or minors. Papers are read for clarity of argument, sophistication of analysis, quality of writing, and, if applicable, control of data and/or research material. The maximum length for a paper is 20 pages, including notes. Additionally, if applicable, please give a short summary (of a few sentences to a paragraph) of the context of the assignment for which the paper was written, particularly the name of the course and the gist of the assignment prompt.

Reflective Writing

The format of entries in this category is flexible, but all submissions should connect academic coursework, broadly defined, to students’ reflections on themselves as dynamic learners. Self-reflective writing often demonstrates improved metacognitive awareness of a discipline’s major “moves,” connects thoughts and feelings to an improved ability to generalize and transfer insights to a new situation, or leads to “socially responsible and globally aware citizens” (Geneseo mission statement). The maximum length of the body of the essay is suggested as ten pages (adapted from the original format where necessary), double-spaced in a 12-point font; bibliography pages are extra. However, if your writing’s format is quite different, contact Dr. Paku to decide on the best way to submit it. If you submit an essay that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor. You can excerpt a longer essay, but do not exceed the contest page limit.

Drama and Screenwriting

Entries in this category can include a play, screenplay, or teleplay of a maximum of twenty pages, but we encourage other fields such as choreography or videography. If you submit a piece that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor.

Poetry

Please enter ONLY ONE POEM in this category, formatted as you please. Maximum length is ten pages.

Literary Fiction

The maximum length of entries in this category is twenty pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font. If you submit a piece that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor.

Creative Non-Fiction

The maximum length of entries in this category is twenty pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font. If you submit a piece that was already submitted for classwork, you are encouraged to edit it appropriately for readers who are not your class instructor.