Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest
The Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest challenges fifth graders across the country to reflect on and write about one of two themes: “Why I Am Glad America Is a Nation of Immigrants” or “What Does It Mean to be A Welcoming Nation?”
The contest begins at the local level, with regional contests run by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) chapters. Each chapter sends its first-place winning entry to the American Immigration Council for the national contest. The grand prize winner (and two guests) will win a trip to read their entry at an awards ceremony hosted by the American Immigration Council.
The contest begins at the local level, with regional contests run by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) chapters. Coordinators can run the contests either in-person or virtually. If you are an interested student or parent, please email Katherine Steinberg at [email protected].
Meet this Year’s Winner
The first-place winner of the American Immigration Council’s 28th annual (2024-2025) Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is Luu Ly, whose poem “American Poem” was submitted by the New York AILA Chapter. Luu Ly’s poem powerfully reflects how families pass stories down from generation to generation.
Past Winners
Angela Du (Winner: 2023-2024)
The first-place winner of the American Immigration Council’s 27th annual (2023-2024) Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is Angela Du, whose poem “Stories of Us” was submitted by the New York AILA Chapter. Angela’s poem powerfully reflects the many stories immigrants bring to America.
Lillie Villezcas (Winner: 2022-2023)
The first-place winner of the American Immigration Council’s 26th annual (2022-2023) Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is Lillie Villezcas, whose poem “3” was submitted by the Nevada AILA Chapter. Lillie’s essay is a powerful statement of the multi-faceted generational story of the immigrant experience.
Elin Seiler (Winner: 2021-2022)
The first-place winner of the American Immigration Council’s 25th annual (2021-2022) Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is Elin Seiler, whose poem “Where I’m From” was submitted by the Chicago AILA Chapter.
Resources & Forms
The Coordinator Guide provides the national contest requirements, detailed timeline and checklists, as well as sample letters, tips, and forms that may be of use for local contests. The contest flyer and one-pager may also be useful during outreach.
In order to be eligible to compete in the national contest, the winning local entry along with the following completed forms must be emailed by AILA chapters.
Classroom Resources
In the past, some local contests have coordinated for AILA lawyers to visit fifth grade classrooms to discuss the benefits of immigration. For sample lesson plans, you may consider using the following websites as resources.
- Share My Lesson, by the American Federation of Teachers
- PBS Learning Media
- Scholastic
- Kids Discover
Sponsorship
The Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is made possible due to the generous support of the MurthyNAYAK Foundation.
