The two pictures or excerpts on each card are example entries to show the range of work: illustrations, not real students’ work.
Recommended grades: 3–12 · This season
Take one photograph that shows what fall looks like where you live. It can be a place, a detail, a person (with permission) or a moment. Give it a title.
Recommended grades: 5–12
Photograph an everyday object so it looks extraordinary. Try an unusual angle, a close-up, or interesting light. Give your photo a title.
Recommended grades: 4–12
Photograph someone who helps your community work — a crossing guard, a cook, a coach, a neighbor. Ask their permission first. Add one sentence about who they are.
Recommended grades: 6–12
Tell a story using mostly light and shadow. Your photo can be dramatic, mysterious or calm — but shadows should be part of the story. Give it a title.
Recommended grades: K–8
Draw or paint a portrait of a hero from your town — someone you know or someone famous from here. Add a short label saying why they are a hero.
Recommended grades: K–5 · This season
Design a monster who looks scary but is secretly kind. Draw, paint or build it, and give it a name.
Recommended grades: 3–12
Make a sculpture using only recycled materials — boxes, bottles, paper, caps. Photograph it from its best angle and give it a title.
Recommended grades: 4–12
Design a postage stamp that honors your state — a landmark, animal, person or tradition. Include the word “USA” and a value, like a real stamp.
Recommended grades: 5–12
Design a new cover for a book you love. Include the title and author, and make someone want to read it.
Recommended grades: 4–12
Create an image of your town fifty years from now. What is new? What stayed the same? Add a one-line caption.
Recommended grades: 3–12
Redesign your school mascot. Keep what makes it special, and make it look fresh. Show the full mascot on a plain background.
Grade 3
Red leaf on my shoe I carry it home to show Mom says it’s a boat
Grade 10
Streetlight at five-ten the bus exhales, and the dark arrives before me
Recommended grades: 3–12
Write three haiku (5–7–5 syllables) about this season. Each one should capture a single, specific moment.
Grade 5
I am from Tía’s tamales on Christmas Eve, from “¡apúrate, mija!” and the pecan tree that drops everything on our car.
Grade 11
I am from the hum of the night shift, from Dad’s boots by the door at six — the first thing I learned about love.
Recommended grades: 5–12
Write a “Where I’m From” poem: a list of the foods, sayings, places, people and small things that made you who you are. Start lines with “I am from…”.
Grade 4
Ode to My Sock You are the hero nobody claps for. You hold my toes all day and never complain when I jump in puddles.
Grade 9
Ode to the Bus Seat Green vinyl continent, you have carried every version of me — the crier, the sleeper, the one who finally laughed.
Recommended grades: 4–12
Write an ode — a poem of praise — to something ordinary that nobody notices: a sock, a pencil, a bus seat. Make us see it in a new way.
Grade 6 · weather page
Tomorrow scattered, clearing by noon — a chance of something bright.
Grade 12 · sports page
Down by six in the final quarter, the rookie refused the ending.
Recommended grades: 6–12
Build a poem using only words and phrases found on one page of a newspaper or magazine. Name your source at the bottom.
Grade 5
Dear Principal Ortiz, our school should start a class garden. We would learn science by growing real food…
Grade 11
Moving the first bell from 7:30 to 8:30 would do more for our grades than any new program…
Recommended grades: 4–12
Write a letter to your principal persuading them to change one thing at school. State your idea, give at least three reasons, and answer one objection.
Grade 3
You should read Frog and Toad because they stay best friends even when they are grumpy…
Grade 8
If you think you don’t like fantasy, read one chapter of The Hobbit. Bilbo doesn’t want an adventure either…
Recommended grades: 3–8
Convince your classmates to read your favorite book — without giving away the ending. Give reasons and examples from the book.
Grade 8
To the Editor: The crosswalk on Oak Street needs a signal. Every morning, students cross four lanes of traffic…
Grade 12
To the Editor: Cutting the library’s weekend hours saves money on paper and costs it in people…
Recommended grades: 7–12
Write a letter to your local newspaper taking a stand on an issue in your community. Use facts, and keep it under 300 words.
Grade 2
Dear Mom and Dad, we should adopt Biscuit from the shelter. He is brown and has one floppy ear…
Grade 6
Luna is a three-year-old tabby who has waited at the shelter for 200 days. She is calm and already litter-trained…
Recommended grades: 2–6
Persuade your family to adopt a shelter animal. Describe the pet and give your best reasons why it belongs in your home.
Grade 4
Leaves fell. I jumped. Mom sighed. — She had just raked the whole pile.
Grade 11
Last warm day. We didn’t know. — You only notice summer ending after it’s gone.
Recommended grades: 4–12 · This season
Tell a whole fall story in exactly six words. Then add one sentence explaining why you chose those words.
Grade 2
Dear Veteran, thank you for keeping us safe. I am 7 and I like soccer and my dog. I hope you have a happy Veterans Day. Love, Ava
Grade 10
Dear Sergeant, my grandfather served too, and he never talked about it much…
Recommended grades: 2–12 · This season
Write a letter thanking a veteran for their service. Be specific and sincere, and tell them something about yourself.
Grade 3
The door was purple and it hummed. When I opened it, there was a hallway made of pancakes, and a tiny dragon asked me for syrup.
Grade 7
Behind the door was our classroom — the same, except every desk was empty and the clock on the wall said 1987.
Recommended grades: 3–8
This morning there was a door in your classroom that wasn’t there yesterday. Write the story of what happens when you open it.
Grade 4 · speech
“Mr. Lopez has been our crossing guard for twenty years. He knows every kid’s name — even mine, and I’m new…”
Grade 11 · speech
“When the flood reached the church steps, Ms. Harper turned her bakery into a shelter for a week. Nobody asked her to…”
Recommended grades: 3–12
Record a 60-second speech about a hero from your town. Who are they, what did they do, and why should everyone know about them?
Grade 3 · speech
“If I were principal for a day, recess would be one hour, and pizza day would be Mondays AND Fridays…”
Grade 8 · speech
“My first change would be a student council that helps write the rules — because the people who follow them should have a say…”
Recommended grades: 3–8
Record a speech (1–2 minutes): if you were principal for a day, what would you change and why?
Grade 5 · speech
“Today I’ll teach you to fold a paper crane. Step one: start with a perfect square…”
Grade 10 · speech
“Most people change a bike tire the hard way. You need two tire levers and about ninety seconds. Here’s how…”
Recommended grades: 5–12
Record a two-minute speech teaching us how to do something you’re good at. Show or explain each step clearly.
Grade 4 · speech
“My name is Sacagawea. I crossed the mountains carrying my baby, and I helped guide Lewis and Clark to the ocean…”
Grade 11 · speech
“I am Frederick Douglass. They told me that learning to read would make me unfit to be a slave. They were right…”
Recommended grades: 4–12
Speak for 1–2 minutes as a person from history. Tell us who you are, what you did and why it mattered — in their voice.
Recommended grades: 3–8
Invent something that solves a real problem. Submit a labeled sketch and one paragraph explaining the problem and how your invention fixes it.
Recommended grades: 5–12
Make one poster for one experiment: question, hypothesis, method, results (with a chart) and conclusion.
Recommended grades: 3–12
Share a recipe that matters to your family: the ingredients and steps, a photo of the dish, and a short paragraph about why it’s special.
