View the 2024 Merced County Writing Festival Winning Entries

The Merced County Office of Education received more than 2,600 entries for the Merced County Writing Festival — the annual coutywide writing competition open to students of all grades levels. All 1,000 winning entries are now live and available to view at http://mcoe.org/writingfestival.

Entries for the competition, which celebrates its 40th year, were submitted digitally and judged by teachers from participating schools. Students selected topics from several different categories, including short stories, essays, songs, letters and poems. 

First, second and third place students will receive ribbons and the top two entries for each grade will receive gold medals: one for poetry and one for prose. Awards are delivered to school sites and districts for distribution during the end of the school year activities. 

The Merced County Writing Festival was created by local teachers and provides a platform for student writers of all grade levels to showcase their talent in poetry and prose. The festival is open to Merced County students from preschool to 12th grades.

Contact events@mcoe.org to learn more about the Merced County Writing Festival or how to participate next year.