The MoCo Student is honored to announce our inaugural journalism contest, which works to uplift and spotlight the next generation of student journalists in Montgomery County.
Applicants must be residents of Montgomery County between 13 and 18 years of age.
In addition to being published on the MoCo Student website, winners will also be featured on MoCo Student social media, receive feedback and mentoring, and have the opportunity to win prizes.
Please submit your entries here. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at editorsmocostudent@gmail.com.
The contest will close by August 21, 2026, with results being decided in September.
Judges
Zoe Bell is a senior reporter for Washington Jewish Week, where she’s in her third year covering local Jewish news, breaking news and news features in the D.C. metro area. She has received multiple awards for her reporting. Zoe graduated magna cum laude from American University with degrees in journalism and criminal justice, and served as the first DEI editor of AU’s student newspaper. An alumna of Quince Orchard High School, Zoe got her start interning for The MoCo Student.
Jordan Young is a digital producer at NBC4 Washington, where her reporting mostly focuses on disability and health policy in the D.C. area. She’s previously held positions at the CNN Political Unit and The Village Green, a New Jersey local news website. Jordan first got her start in student media, serving as opinions editor on her high school newspaper, The Columbian, and as news managing editor on American University’s newspaper, The Eagle.
Submission Guidelines
Applicants are allowed to submit up to three entries. We accept previously published submissions.
Judges will only be reading entries that are submitted in this form.
Entries may be by an individual or a team. For team submissions, one person is responsible for submitting an entry and providing information regarding their team members.
Please note that any applications made with artificial intelligence will be automatically disqualified. We do not accept any use of artificial intelligence software to generate articles or digital graphics.
Please review the contest categories below and examples of which types of entries fall under each category:
News:
- Foreign affairs
- Breaking news
- Local reporting
- Science, technology, and society reporting
Features:
- Profile writing
- Human-interest story
- Cultural commentary
- In-depth reporting
Arts and Culture:
- Movies, books, food, fashion, and other reviews
- Reporting on cultural/artistic phenomenon
Opinion:
- Editorial
- Letter to the editor
- Reporting with a social justice angle
Sports:
- Coverage of a MoCo sports game
- Broader athletic news
Photography:
- Photo essays
- Standalone pieces
Video:
- Broadcast news story
- Broadcast features story
- Broadcast sports story
Graphics
- Digital art
- Hand-drawn pieces
- Must be pertinent to a news event
Audio:
- Podcast
We look forward to reading your submissions!