At The Koppelman Group, we love working with student writers. After grades and activities, college applications are really just one enormous writing project, after all. While our number one goal is to help kids get into their dream colleges, we also want our students to become better writers, storytellers, and, essentially, communicators, outside of their college applications.
To help our students become better writers, we do a lot of writing with our kids — and by a lot we mean a lot. So, we like to find places for them to publish their work so that it will actually be seen by someone other than application readers. We’ve had students published by regional and national magazines and newsletters, and win awards including thousands of dollars in cash prizes all for writing they developed alongside their college application process.
Below are our top 10 places for students to publish their fiction short stories.
If you’re a student writer who wants an edge in college admissions, send us an email. We help students write outstanding applications that get them into their dream schools.
School Literary Journals
This one may seem obvious, but we’re consistently surprised by how many students tell us that they want to publish their work, but they’ve never submitted to their school newspaper or literary journal. That’s silly. The best place to start your publishing journey is close to home. If your school has a literary journal, get involved! If it doesn’t, consider starting one!
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious student competition in the United States (it was started in 1923). Students in grades 7 through grade 12 are eligible to submit writing including essays, scripts, fiction, humor, memoir, science fiction and fantasy, and more. The awards give out recognitions at the regional and national level, and your work will be compared against thousands of submissions, so winning an award truly means your work stands out.
The Apprentice Writer
This annual journal publishes writing and illustrations by students from across the United States and abroad. Copies of The Apprentice Writer journal are distributed by nearly 3,000 schools, and it is overseen by Susquehanna University and the Writer’s Institute, which are both highly respected for the work they do with writers.
YoungArts Competition
Writing is one of the ten categories in the YoungArts national competition. The competition is open to students in the United States between 15 and 18, and they offer really helpful application tips on their website including advice from judges and previous winners.
Skipping Stones
Skipping Stones has invited students to submit poems, stories, essays, art, and photo essays to be considered for publication since 2021. Most of the work they publish comes out online, but they do publish in print for their annual awards issue, which recognizes winners of their youth honor awards. They have very specific submission guidelines, so be sure to read them twice and adhere to them completely, as the dumbest way to lose something is by not following the rules.
Bennington College Young Writers Awards
Bennington College runs an annual Young Writers Award competition with categories in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Bennington has a deep literary legacy, including 12 Pulitzer Prize winners and too many New York Times bestselling authors to count — so they know good writing. The competition was created to celebrate this legacy, and is open to students in 9th to 12th grade. Cash prizes range from $250 to $1,000.
The Creative Writing Awards
For more than 25 years, Penguin Random House, one of the leading publishing houses in the world, has run the Creative Writing Awards to elevate student voices and diverse narratives. The competition is open to seniors attending public high schools in the United States, and stories must be between four and ten pages. The competition is limited to 1000 applications, so be sure to submit soon after they open the competition in October if you are serious about this opportunity! First-place winners have previously been awarded $10,000 each.
Polyphony Lit
If you are looking to join a community of passionate writers, Polyphony Lit may fit the bill. It is a worldwide community of student writers and editors, and students are invited to submit writing, join the editorial staff, write blog posts, take workshops, and more. Like us, they aim to develop young writers and are especially excited to hear from students who want to work with them over an extended period of time. Since 2004, they have received over 19,000 submissions and have responded to every single one with feedback.
One Story
The One Teen Story program by One Story gives teenage writers an opportunity to be edited, published, and paid for their writing while still in high school. The contest is free and open to writers 13-19. Three winners have their work published in print, and mailed out to all One Story subscribers.
Storytellers of Tomorrow Writing Contest
Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, Florida runs an annual Creative Writing Program to “support, empower, and honor young writers.” They embrace the wide variety of narrative storytelling tools technology empowers, and all high-school-age students are invited to submit original stories up to 2,000 words in length. Submissions are accepted in the fall and winter annually.
If you are a passionate student writer who wants to get published, pick a few of the opportunities above to pursue. Writing requires perseverance, and we estimate a mimimum of a 90% rejection rate for student writers. If you want to have your work seen through the noise, you need to simply start submitting and then keep going even when rejections have you down.
Applying to college is tough, so send us an email. We guide students towards success.