Veterans Day Essay Contest
Call for entries: 2025 Veterans Day Student Essay Contest
The Virginia War Memorial (VWM) is calling on students for entries to their 2025 Veterans Day Student Essay Contest.
This annual competition is open to all Virginia middle and high school age public, private, and homeschooled students. One winner will be selected from among all middle school entries (grades 6-8) and one from high school entries (grades 9-12).
The essay topic for the 2025 contest will be announced in August.
Submissions should be 500-750 words in length, incorporate at least one primary source, and include an APA or MLA style bibliography.
New this year, the contest is sponsored by the Military Order of the Purple Heart – Department of Virginia. They will award each of the two students who write the winning essay a prize of $500.00.
The student winners will also be invited to attend the Commonwealth’s Veterans Day Ceremony at VWM on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.
The deadline for entries to be submitted electronically is midnight, Monday, October 13, 2025.
SUBJECTS:
– Veterans in your family, community members, or others whose stories resonate with you.
– Consider what lessons may be learned by their example.
– Focus on their time in service, though you may also address their time as a civilian or veteran.
RESOURCES:
– Speak with the veteran, or people who knew them.
– Utilize primary resources, newspaper records, personal stories, military records, letters, books, and the internet.
– VWM Archives (Contact Archivist Sylvia Marshall to view archival material and oral histories that may help you to create an essay: Sylvia.Marshall@dvs.virginia.gov)
FINALISTS:
– Entries will be judged on clarity, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and adherence to the contest theme and guidelines.
– Sources must be properly cited in a bibliography (APA or MLA style).
QUESTIONS?
– Contact VWM’s Education Outreach & Programs Manager: elizabeth.oglesby@dvs.virginia.gov
Essay Contest Rules & Guidelines:
1. This contest is open to all Virginia Middle and High School public, private, or homeschooled students. A winning entry will be chosen from each age group (grades 6-8 and 9-12).
2. Submissions must be between 500-750 words and use at least one primary source. Students must properly cite their sources in a bibliography (APA or MLA style) and include the bibliography with their submission.
3. Entries will be judged on clarity of thought, adherence to the contest theme and guidelines, and proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
4. Entries are due Monday, October 13, by 11:59 p.m. Entries received after this time will not be considered.
5. Entries should be submitted HERE
6. First place winners (in the grades 6-8 and 9-12 categories) will receive a prize of $500 from the Order of the Purple Heart – Department of Virginia. Winners will also be invited to attend the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Veterans Day Ceremony on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.
7. By submitting an entry, the student agrees that the work is original and unassisted. The use of artificial intelligence to generate the essay is strictly prohibited. Essays must be written for this essay contest only. Submissions may not be essays that were written for a different class assignment unrelated to the Veterans Day Essay contest.
8. The Virginia War Memorial Foundation holds the right to publish any submissions to this contest on its website and in other print materials (with credit to the author).
CONGRATULATIONS TO the WINNERS OF THE 2024 Veterans Day Student Essay Contest
The Winners of the 2024 Essay Contest are:
Middle School Winner: Henry Clark, 7th Grade at Saint Benedict Catholic School in Richmond
Read HENRY’s winning essay here
High School Winner: Savannah Overton, 11th Grade at James River High School in Chesterfield
Read SAVANNAH’s winning essay here
Both winners received a gift package, presented by McDonald’s Owner-Operators of Richmond and Hampton Roads, Virginia.
