Spirit Writing competition

Registration for the Spirit Writing competition begins on October 15, 2024, and submissions are accepted until March 14, 2025. Winners can choose between an all-expenses paid summer program experience or a $500 cash prize!

Teachers are strongly encouraged to motivate their students to participate and incorporate our competition into their curriculum. Each student may select one theme for their submission, so start drafting your masterpiece and prepare to shine in the Spirit Writing competition!

The theme for this year’s SpiRIT Writing Competition is:

Be the Change You Want to See in this World

Here are some essay questions that you can answer in your writing:

 If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and why? – What are the issues in the world today that matter to you? Consider global challenges like poverty, climate change or inequality. You can also focus on specific issues such as education, healthcare reform or mental health awareness. Explain why this change is important to you and how it would impact society. 

 In what ways can the power of kindness change the world? – Discuss how kindness can lead to inspire others to act with compassion, encouraging positive social changes. Reflect on real life examples on how kindness had a profound impact, whether it was helping someone in need or standing up against social injustice. How can kindness encourage changes in areas like mental health, poverty, or bullying?

 How can you contribute to solving the social injustices in the world? What role can you have in changing or addressing social injustices such as racism, inequality, discrimination and other forms of unfair treatment? What social issues are most important to you? Describe how these issues affect people within your community or around the world. 

 You are a leader of an organization, how will you ensure you lead with compassion and empathy? What does it mean to lead with compassion and empathy? Compassionate leadership involves understanding and caring about the needs, struggles and emotions of people you are leading. Empathy requires putting yourself in others’ shoes while acknowledging their life journey in order to help make decisions that promote positive outcomes. Think about ways you can incorporate these qualities into your leadership style. What are the challenges you may face when trying to lead a group?

Am I eligible?

To be eligible for the Spirit Writing Competition, students must:

• Be deaf or hard-of-hearing
• Be enrolled in 10th or 11th grade as of spring 2025
• Have a parent’s or guardian’s permission to participate.
• Have a teacher’s recommendation.
• Submit a copy of their high school transcript.
• Sign a statement that their work is original and no copyrighted materials are used in their submission.
• Have appropriate permission forms, if required by their school district.

When writing your project, review which topic you want to write about. Your project must be under 2,000 words, so choose carefully!

What do I need to do?

• Register using this entry form
• Submit your application package, which must include ALL of the following, to a Google Drive:
  • A copy of your entry form
  • A copy of your high school transcript
  • A letter of recommendation from your teacher
  • Your written work
  • When submitting your documents to Google Drive, be sure to enable “anyone with the link can view” so our judges can see all your work
• Send your application package to:
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
    Spirit Writing Contest
    52 Lomb Memorial Dr
    Rochester, NY 14623
               OR
  • Email to: writingcontest@rit.edu

Enter your best work today! The deadline for submitting all materials is March 14, 2025

If you have any questions or concerns, contact us:
Voice: 585-475-7695 • Videophone: 585-286-4555 • Email: writingcontest@rit.edu

• The panel of judges reserves the right to disqualify any project due to poor quality, incompleteness, poor taste, inappropriateness of content, or concerns regarding copyright infringement in the original work.
• The written work must be in compliance with the entry guidelines.
• The written work must be compatible with one of the identified categories. NTID reserves the right to reject or move an entry to another category as it deems appropriate.
• Projects will be judged using the following criteria: uniqueness/originality, structure of writing, cohesiveness, syntax, and vocabulary.

Formerly the National Dalgarno Essay Contest
The Spirit Writing Contest owes its existence to an earlier writing competition sponsored at RIT/NTID entitled the National Dalgarno Essay Contest. This competition was established and personally sponsored for ten years by the late Professor Emeritus Edward Scouten, and his wife Eleanor, who shared a passion for English literacy and the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Professor and Mrs. Scouten originally named the essay contest after George Dalgarno, a Scottish school teacher and the inventor of the first sign language alphabet. In 1680, Dalgarno published a book in which he presented many theories about the different ways to teach language to people who were deaf. Among those theories was Dalgarno’s firm belief that deaf children could learn to understand and use written English if given the opportunity. Mr. Scouten, in his many years of teaching English at NTID, based much of his philosophy of teaching on Dalgarno’s original theories of the relationship between English, language and deafness.

SCOUTEN ENDOWED INTERNSHIP IN ENGLISH LITERACY
Established in 2004, this endowment provides support for an internship with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of the Rochester Institute of Technology. The purpose of the internship is to provide mentoring in best teaching practices to promote English literacy. Learn more about the Scouten Endowed Internship in English Literacy.

For more information or questions about prizes, contact us at writingcontest@rit.edu.

To submit your application package or materials for the competition, please mail to:

RIT/NTID Spirit Writing Contest
NTID Outreach & Special Projects
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
52 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623-5604