Deadline: October 23rd, 2026 11:59PM
Canada & U.S. wide
How do we reclaim voice, identity, belonging, and agency in a world that tries to define and contain us?
For our second annual youth essay contest, The 44 North invites young writers to explore questions of power, personhood, culture, identity, and self-definition for a chance to win up to $1000!
What we’re looking for: We welcome essays that are personal, thoughtful, and engaged with the world around you. Strong submissions may draw on lived experience, family or cultural history, community life, social issues, or research where relevant. We’re seeking original writing that connects personal experience to larger social, political, or cultural realities.
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Prompt
Please choose one of the following:
Reclaiming Power: What does it mean to reclaim power in your own life, community, or culture? Write an essay exploring how you (or others) have or hope to reclaim voice, agency, belonging, identity, or dignity in the face of forces that try to limit, define, erase, or silence them.
Who Gets to Define Who You Are: And what happens when that power is taken back? Write an essay exploring identity, personhood, culture, ancestry, language, or belonging, and the tension between how people are seen by others, and how they define themselves.
Deadline
The contest opens on June 4th, 2026, at 12:00 AM EST, and closes on October 23rd, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST.
Winners will be contacted by November 23rd.
Prizes
The winners of this contest will be selected by a panel of editors at The 44 North, alongside several guest judges. In addition to prize money for the top 3 submissions, the winning essays will be published in our magazine.
Our long list—the next 12 winners to round out a top 15—will be published on our Substack alongside personalized editorial support.
Our entire top 15 essays will be published in print, available at our live podcast event in 2027.
Criteria
This essay contest is open to writers under the age of 25 in Canada and the US*. Only essays written in English will be accepted due to internal language barriers and limited capacity. Essays may not exceed 2000 words. Only essays submitted through the submission form located on our website will be accepted.
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*US applicants must be the age of majority in their state​
THE JUDGES
Mikaela Brewer
Mikaela Brewer (she/her) is a Canadian writer and editor. Her work has previously been published in SAPIENS, Free State Review, The Stanford Daily, Sport Literate, The Headlight Review, The 44 North, and more. Some of her other work can be found online at mikbrew.substack.com. Mikaela played basketball for Team Canada and Stanford University, where she studied human biology (brain, behaviour, and mental health), creative writing, and earned a notation in science communication. As a multi-suicide-attempt and multi-suicide-loss survivor, she is currently working on several projects that braid suicide prevention with poetry, storytelling, voice, and music. Mikaela is the Senior Editor of The 44 North, the Editor-in-Chief/Founder of Lamplight, and the Publications Lead at Unsinkable. Her work extends to co-producing/writing workbooks and podcasts, such as The Legend of Unsinkable, a custom-illustrated mental health folktale-workbook, and the Braving the Waves podcast, which centres poetry as storytelling.
Other judges to be announced.
WRITING SUPPORT
Workshop: July 24th, 7:00 pm EDT / 5:00 pm MDT.
Join us for a 2-hour workshop with Christine Mejukah Weeber.
Spells & Taboos: The Social Lives of Poems​​
Poems live in social worlds. So do we. How do these social worlds reveal, erase, disrupt, or erupt understandings? How can anthropology help unveil these social worlds? And more, how can anthropology + poetry help us witness and communicate these worlds in terms of power, agency, identity, culture, belonging, kinship, history, and more?
In this 2-hour workshop, participants will explore a brief history of anthropology and its contemporary manifestations. They will also pick up a few anthropological tools for understanding broader social worlds and the possibilities of poetry within those. Participants will craft their own poems as knowledge-makers in particular “fieldsites” to wrestle with power, negotiate self-identities, unveil taboos, and unseat “spells,” or taken-for-granted assumptions.
About Christine Mejukah Weeber
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Christine Mejukah Weeber is the author of two poetry chapbooks, In the Understory of Her Being (in English and Spanish; Finishing Line Press, 2018) and Sastrugi. Her poetry and prose have appeared in the Wild Roof Journal, the Kyoto Journal, Solo: On Her Own Adventure, and other publications. From 2016–2025, Christine served as the copy editor, poetry editor, and fact-checker at SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine, a digital publication that brought anthropological insights and research to general audiences. She is a freelance writer and editor for Stonefly Editorial Services.
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*Workshop package available post-workshop. Pre-reads will be provided via email before the workshop.
