The submission window for the current year's cycle is now closed.
AFSA National High School Essay Contest
Our National High School Essay Contest will be on hiatus for the 2026–2027 academic year while we review and strengthen our student outreach programs. AFSA remains committed to engaging and inspiring the next generation of diplomats and global leaders. Please check back for updates on future opportunities.
For background information on the U.S. Foreign Service and additional educational resources, read our Essay Contest Study Guide.
PLEASE NOTE:
Students whose parents are not in the Foreign Service are eligible to participate if they are in grades nine through twelve in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, or if they are U.S. citizens attending high school overseas. Students may be attending a public, private, or parochial school. Entries from home-schooled students are also accepted. Previous first-place winners and immediate relatives of directors or staff of AFSA, NLSC and Semester at Sea are not eligible to participate. Previous honorable mention recipients are eligible to enter. $2,500 to the writer of the winning essay, in addition to an all-expense paid trip to the nation’s capital from anywhere in the U.S. for the winner and his or her parents, and an all-expense paid educational voyage courtesy of Semester at Sea. The winner's school also receives a donation of 10 copies of AFSA's Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work.
The Fund for American Diplomacy is AFSA's 501(c)(3) charitable organization that supports AFSA’s outreach goals. AFSA National High School Essay contest is AFSA’s main outreach initiative to high school students. Donations to the FAD are fully tax deductible.