Purchase contest entries for $15 each.

Submission links are on each prompt. The visual submission form is now open.

Rules and answers to frequently asked questions are at this link. 

KSPA’s Regional and State Contests are the organization’s signature competitive event with the chance to take home a trophy for their school and medals for their own top performances.

Students work individually and as teams to create content in response to prompts. Each entry is judged, and students receive individualized feedback. Regional contests acts as a qualifier for our state competition. Find the assignments for schools competing in regionals at this link.

2026 Contest Deadlines

• Nov. 10: Regional visual prompts are released. These are to be completed independently and aren’t required to be proctored.
• Jan. 20: Regional Contest Registration Deadline. Register for the entries you need. Refunds aren’t given for entries that aren’t submitted.
• Jan. 26: Regional writing contest prompts will be released. Must be proctored.
• Jan. 30: Regional Contest writing entries will be due by 5 p.m. Again, must be proctored. Please note, this deadline was extended.
• Feb. 4: Regional Contest visual entries will be due by 5 p.m. (Visuals Submission Link.)
• Feb. 24: Regional Contest results posted by this date. AND State Visual prompts are released.
• March 12: Deadline for State Contest registration. Register for the entries you need. Refunds aren’t given for entries that aren’t submitted.
• March 23: State Writing contest prompts posted. Must be proctored.
• March 27: State Writing contests due at 5 p.m. Again, must be proctored.
• April 2: Deadline State contest visual prompts due at 5 p.m.
• WEATHER NOTICE: Deadlines may be extended in case of significant impacts from inclement weather affecting regions of the state.
• For more details, check out the KSPA calendar.

Organize your entries

The spreadsheet linked here can help you organize student entries. Please note, this is NOT how you’ll submit your entries — just a tool to make organizing the work a little easier. It’s also a great way to involve student editors in planning submissions.

Rules

Find all of our rules at this link, but here are a few important guidelines to keep in mind:

• Classes 5A and 6A will compete separately during the 2026 school year because of the large number of entries in past competitions.
• Individual students can compete in no more than five total contests.
• Students can’t submit more than one entry in a single category.
• Submit correct links: While we make efforts to inform schools of bad links or files, it is the responsibility of entrants to submit the correct information and use our verification emails to check submitted files. We cannot issue refunds for improperly submitted entries.
• Payment for entries is due at the contest submission deadline. Entries may be disqualified if a school doesn’t pay its contest invoice in a timely fashion.

Technical requirements for submissions

You must use a Google account to submit entries for the visual contests. (Teachers may submit entries for students if they don’t have a Google account.) A Google account isn’t required for writing entries. Please suggest your school district not block emails from our domain (@kspaonline.org) because we will email verifications of submissions to students and teachers. In some cases, students may want to use a non-school email address in order to receive verification of their submissions.

You can also verify that your entries were received by checking our live list of submissions.

Learn, Prepare & Teach

Learn from past winners at this link. You’ll also find slide presentations for each of our 2025 state categories, which include views of the winning work as well as advice specific to each contest. We’ve also compiled advice for being successful in the visual and writing categories.

Prepare for the writing contests using our past prompts at this link.

Teachers often find those past prompts and examples useful for creating a quick lesson. You might also find our rubrics helpful for evaluating student work.

Volunteer to judge or refer judges to volunteer

We rely on journalism educators and professionals to judge and provide feedback to our contestants. Volunteer and refer other volunteers to sign up using the form at this link.

We will share writing entries with judges by Feb. 2 and visual entries by Feb. 8. Judging is due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 16.

Get started

• REGISTER for your school’s contests entries ($15 each) at this link. We have a link of schools that have already registered at this link.