The American Counseling Association Future School Counselors essay competition recognizes graduate counseling students with exceptional insight and understanding about the school counseling profession and the work of professional school counselors who interact with elementary, middle school or high school students.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 11:59pm ET
AWARD NOTIFICATION
Week of January 26, 2026
JUDGES
ACA Awards Committee
PRIZE
Grand Prize Award
First Prize Award
Second Prize Award
Honorable Mention Awards (2 awards):
Complimentary registration for the 2026 ACA Conference and Expo (April 9-11, 2026, Columbus, Ohio) and recognition during the event. Winners will receive further information at the time of award notification.
ELIGIBILITY, RULES AND CRITERIA
The American Counseling Association Future School Counselors essay competition is open to counseling graduate students in master’s and doctoral degree programs working toward a career in school counseling at the elementary, middle school or high school levels.
All entries will be read by a team of experienced professional counselors and evaluated in terms of how effectively each essay addresses the subject and offers provocative insights into the profession of counseling and its future.
Judges will want to see ideas well explained and supported. They will be evaluating how effectively the essayist presents his/her view and how interesting that position will be to the counseling community at large.
The decisions of the judges are final. There can be no substitution of prizes.
HOW TO APPLY