Personal Essay Category
The English Department at Western Kentucky University is pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Literature Essay Category for The Barbara Ann Williford Memorial High School Writing Contest. Students should visit the links on the right to complete an application and submit a 500-750-word piece (MLA style; pdf format) based on the prompt below. The English Department will invite finalists, their teachers, and family to campus for a reception and ceremony on April 18, 2026 where they will be recognized.
The winners will receive cash prizes: 1st place - $200; 2nd place - $125; 3rd place - $75 and Teacher's Choice - $100.
Application and Essays are due March 28, 2026.
Finding Joy
Joy is not a single feeling but a way of noticing. It can flicker through small routines, through laughter shared with a friend, or through the quiet satisfaction of doing something well. Though it may not always be easy to hold onto, joy has a way of reminding us of what it feels like to be fully alive and present in the world.
Prompt
Write a personal essay (300–500 words) exploring the theme of joy as it appears in your own life or observations. Your piece may take the form of a personal narrative, creative nonfiction, or memoir, and it should move beyond description to reflection. Consider what joy means to you, where it comes from, and what it reveals about how you live.
As you write, you might ask yourself:
- When have you encountered joy unexpectedly—or struggled to find it?
- What moments or people have helped you understand the nature of joy?
- Can joy coexist with pain, doubt, or change?
- What does it mean to choose joy, rather than simply feel it?
Guidelines
Your essay should balance storytelling with insight. Use concrete detail and sensory language to draw the reader into your experience, then step back to consider what that experience means. Avoid turning your essay into a speech or argument; instead, let your thoughts unfold naturally, showing how one moment or idea leads to another.
This contest values voice, tone, and imagery. A winning essay will feel personal and anchored in lived experience, yet open to larger truths about what it means to be human
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.