Creative Writing Category
The English Department at Western Kentucky University is pleased to announce the 2026-2027 the Creative Writing Category for The Barbara Ann Williford Memorial High School Writing Contest. Students should visit the links on the right to complete an application and submit a piece of creative writing (pdf format) based on the prompt below. The English Department will invite finalists, their teachers, and family to campus for a reception and ceremony on March 27, 2027 where they will be recognized.
The winners will receive cash prizes: 1st place - $200; 2nd place - $125; 3rd place - $75 and Teacher's Choice - $100.
Application and Essays are due February 27, 2027.
Surrounded by Signals
We live surrounded by signals. Some arrive loudly: alerts, headlines, sirens, breaking news, endless notifications. Others are quieter: a glance across a room, a late-night phone call, static on an old radio, a song that suddenly means something different, a feeling you cannot quite explain.
Signals can connect people or isolate them. They can warn, comfort, manipulate, reveal, or disappear into noise. In a world fueled by technology, algorithms, surveillance, and the feeling of having to be constantly available, it has become increasingly difficult to know what deserves our attention and what should be ignored.
Write a piece of creative writing, either a short story or poem, exploring signals in our society.
Your work might consider questions such as:
- What messages do we send intentionally, and which do we send without realizing it?
- What happens when signals are missed, distorted, intercepted, or ignored?
- How do people attempt to reach one another across distance, grief, memory, time, or technology?
- What counts as a “real” connection in a digital world?
- When does silence become a signal?
You are not required to answer these questions directly. Instead, you might consider one a as starting point. But feel free interpret the theme in your own way.
Your submission may be realistic, speculative, fantastical, experimental, humorous, unsettling, hopeful, or somewhere in between. We encourage writing that takes creative risks, develops vivid language and imagery, and explores the complexities of human experience.
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.