Spirit Writing competition

The submission period for the Spirit Writing competition begins on September 28, 2026 and submissions are accepted until November 30, 2026. 

Teachers are strongly encouraged to motivate their students to participate and incorporate our competition into their curriculum. 

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

Change Starts with You

Writing Prompt

• What is one small change you could make that would have a big impact on others? Describe your idea and explain why it is important.
  

Am I eligible?

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

• Be deaf or hard-of-hearing
• Be enrolled in 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th grade as of Fall 2026
• 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.

Entries must be 2,000 words or fewer.

What do I need to do?

• Register for the competition:
  Complete the 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 November 30, 2026.

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 submission due to poor quality, incomplete materials, inappropriate content, or concerns regarding originality or copyright infringement.

Entries must comply with the competition guidelines and will be evaluated based on:

• Originality and creativity
• Organization and structure
• Cohesiveness
• Grammar and syntax
• Vocabulary and language use

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.