As a high school junior or senior, you will get your test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation in order—but what about that last crucial item, the college application essay? How can you convey your goals, personality, and sense of self in just a few hundred words?

In the middle of May, the Iowa Youth Writing Project, in collaboration with the University of Iowa's College of Education Teaching and Learning Department, Iowa Reading Association, and Eastern Iowa Reading Council, hosted a reading and celebration for the 2025 Southeastern Iowa Short Story and Poetry Contest winners!

We're turning 15! Come celebrate with a night of trivia at The Green House on May 12th from 7p-9p.