YWP’s hub of inspiration: All our challenges are here!
Challenges
Weekly
Visual Art
Deadline
Fire
Depict fire in your own imaginative way: the fire in a fireplace, a bonfire, a forest fire … Show its surreal beauty or its destructive force, or both.
Writing
Deadline
Goal
Your character sets out to achieve a nearly impossible goal, which leads to humorous, surprising, and touching results.
Writing
Deadline
Onomatopoeia
Merriam-Webster’s definition of onomatopoeia is “the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz, hiss).” Use as many onomatopoeia words as you can in poetry or prose.
Great Artists
Visual Art
Tomokazu Matsuyama
Tomokazu Matsuyama combines Eastern and Western art history, pop culture, graffiti, and more to create his magical, mystical paintings and sculptures.
Visual Art
Bunny Harvey
Walks in rural Vermont helped inspire these dreamy abstract landscape paintings.
Visual Art
Ted Walsh
Recipe for a striking painting? Limited color palette, a spare style, and the gorgeous play of light and shadow.
Great Writers
Writing
Pablo Neruda
This Chilean poet, diplomat, senator began publishing under a pen name because his father discouraged him from writing poetry. Neruda went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Writing
Toni Morrison
In Black History Month, we honor Toni Morrison, the first Black woman to be awarded the Nobel laureate in literature, gained worldwide acclaim for her unvarnished exploration of Black identity in America. Have you read her work?
Writing
Naomi Shihab Nye
"Before you know what kindness really is, you must lose things," writes poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
Online Workshops
Visual Art
Photo Workshop: The Rule of Thirds
A foundational principle of photography and other visual arts is the rule of thirds. It helps create balanced and visually engaging compositions. Join YWP Alumni Advisor Kevin Huang for this online workshop.
Writing
Wondrous Writers: Editing - Polishing your Writing
This workshop explores key elements of editing that will make your story stronger.
Writing
Writing Workshop: Free Verse Poetry
Free verse is freeing! You can write any way you like, break lines wherever you decide, and end a poem whenever you want.
Contests
Writing
Deadline
Tomorrow Project
A series of writing and visual art challenges that explore the issues of today – with hope and solutions for tomorrow. Challenges, cash prizes, publication, and exhibits!
Opinion & Commentary
Writing
National Protest
Across the nation, people are mobilizing against the Trump-Musk agenda. Did you attend one of the April 5 rallies? Share your experience!
Hands Off!
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Writing
Leadership on the Left
Resistance to 'crisis:' Sen. Cory Booker spoke out against the Trump administration at a marathon speech of more than 25 hours on the Senate floor. This follows the "Fight Oligarchy" tour of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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Writing
Resistance
Resistance is bubbling up in the first weeks of the Trump administration. What are you seeing and thinking?
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