The 2021 Americans Against Gun Violence National High School Essay Contest is now closed to new submissions, and the winners have been chosen. We’re in the process of contacting the winners, and we’ll be posting the winning essays in the near future. A total of $15,000 will be awarded to the 12 top winners, with $3,000 for first place, $2,5oo for second place, $2,000 for third place, $1,000 each for 4th through 10th place, and $250 each for 11th and 12th place. Because of the large number of outstanding essays that we received again this year, we’ll also be awarding $100 each to several additional students.
To enter the contest, students were asked to submit an essay of 500 words or fewer in response to the following prompt:
Describe the effect on American youth of the confluence of our country’s longstanding gun violence epidemic with the current Covid-19 pandemic and the threat of violent insurrection; and describe what role you believe the adoption of stringent gun control laws should play at this critical time in our nation’s history.
Please return to this page in the near future to read the winning essays in this year’s contest.