Human Rights – Writing

Tomorrow Project Challenges

Whale Tails, Williston, VT

Human Rights – Writing

Consider how rights are diminishing for LGBTQ+ people, women, Native Americans, people of color, people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups. Write about the impact this has on you, your friends & family, your community.
 

["Silhouettes" by Lia Chien, YWP Archive]


DETAILS: 

  • Open to teens, 13-19, who have a YWP account. (It's free to join!)
  • ​Must be original work and not published elsewhere. No AI.
  • No limit to number of submissions.
  • Each submission will be considered for the Tomorrow Project's six grand prizes of $250 to be awarded when the first phase of the project is completed in October 2025.
  • Prize winners and honorable mentions will also be published in The Voice.

Questions? Contact Susan Reid, YWP Executive Director: Reid@YWP on the site, or by email: sreid@youngwritersproject.org

ALL TOMORROW PROJECT CHALLENGES LIST


Submissions

  • Why?

    Why can’t I simply be me? A person of color, a queer youth, a writer? No one appreciates these things anymore. Now to try isn’t enough. That’s the saddest part. What shall I do when being trans and nonbinary isn’t allowed anymore?

  • The Truth of Being a Girl

    Walking home after dark or that short top

    Are blamed more then the man who didn’t listen to the woman yelling stop

    Appalled?

    Well at 10 I was catcalled

    I’ve been grabbed

  • I'm an expert at knowing

    I’m an expert at knowing, my mother tells me I’m wise beyond my years, and she said I’m emotionally intelligent-but she and I both know that’s not true, she’s telling me this so I don’t have to burden her by telling her my problems.

  • Pink

    When I was little

    My favorite color

    Was pink

    I wore dresses

    To school

    With matching

    Floral headbands

    Then I turned ten

  • For the Hundred

    Life is a gift

    no one deserves

    to lose.

    One hundred murders

    were committed

    in my city this year.

    One hundred humans

    deserving of rights

    were killed

    in my city

    this year.

  • Queer

    My body is a revelation

    Unseen and unspoken

    My body is a revolution

    You will see I’m unbroken


     

    My conscious is power

    As I breathe, I fight

    My conscience is power

  • I Cry

    I cry because my love could lose her livelihood for loving me and yet she loves 

    I cry because to live is a gift I thought was a curse and now I refuse to die 

  • Let Me Speak

    I listen to each word of my country,

    Each act that fights to get rid of everyone I care for.

    Each word that our government cleverly boasts

    About how they belong to us.