​Instructions

Aldo Leopold Writing Contest

​Deadline for the 2026 Leopold Writing Contest is

Friday, ​February 13, 2026, at midnight.

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Preparing to Write your Essay

Students, as part of your preparation, we encourage you to read “The Land Ethic” and other essays by Aldo Leopold. These can be found in A Sand County Almanac, available at local libraries, bookstores, and on the internet. 
​

We have also included additional activities that can help students to come up with ideas for their essays.
​Click below to access a list of additional resources for teachers and students to help them engage with the writing prompt,  the Writing Contest scoring rubric, and a Writing Contest lesson plan.
​

Additional Resources

Scoring Rubric

Lesson PLan

​2026 Essay Topic

This year's contest features quotes by two environmental writers: Aldo Leopold, who believed that the idea of community should include humans, plants, animals, and the land, and Joy Harjo, an Indigenous writer, musician, and poet, who writes about humankind's connection to land.
Please read the following quotations and then respond to the essay prompt below.​

“It's possible to understand the world from studying a leaf. You can comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, mathematics, poetry and biology through the complex beauty of such a perfect structure. It's also possible to travel the whole globe and learn nothing.”
― Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from The Sky: Poems​

"The last word in ignorance is the [person] who says of an animal or plant, 'What good is it?'"
― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Essay Prompt

Using examples from your own experience, write about how we can learn
​important lessons by paying attention to the natural world.
​Be sure to reference both quotations in your essay.

PLEASE NOTE:  The length of the essays varies by category, noted below. Please be sure that your essay adheres to these minimum/maximum requirements. We request that you include WORD COUNT on the last page of your essay after your final line. Thank you!

CATEGORIES
Grades 6-7        300-500 words  
Grades 8-9       400-600 words  
Grades 10-12     500-700 words

​AWARDS​
Cash prizes will be awarded.

​CONTEST PARAMETERS

• ​Students must submit ORIGINAL work.
• Both student and sponsoring teacher must sign the contest entry form affirming that the essay is original and not assisted by AI software. All essays will be run through AI testing software.
• One essay submission per person.​
• Essays must be uploaded as a PDF file.

Read Instructions below and then Submit your essay here

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Here is a step-by-step guide to submitting your essay.

Save the essay as a PDF file and upload it into the Submission Portal.
​Please DO NOT send links to Google Drive!
​

1.  Essays may be typed or handwritten. Save your essay as a PDF file, using the format [Student Name] ESSAY. Include the word count of your essay on the last page or bottom of the document.​​​​

2.  Use the link below to fill out the Submission Form.

2026 CONTEST Submission FORM

• ​​Click on the link above to bring up the entry form in your browser. Each line provides a space to type in the information requested.​
• Fill in all of the form fields COMPLETELY, using correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. 
• Upload the PDF of your essay into the entry form. Please be sure to include the word count of your essay at the bottom of the PDF. Ex: WORD COUNT: 489 words.
• Do NOT include your name at the top of your essay, so that judging can be anonymous.
• The next step is to obtain the Sponsoring TEACHER's information, signature, and date. Make sure you allow enough time for your teacher to complete this section, in order to submit your essay and entry form by the deadline. Be sure to save the file again after the teacher information is entered.

3.  We are requesting that you fill out an additional form (Student Demographic Information). This form asks questions about you​ that are important to the Leopold Writing Program for collecting data to test that our Contest recruitment efforts are achieving diversity within New Mexico's Grades 6-12 population. Responses to these questions are voluntary. Your responses will be unconnected from your application, and will not be visible to the panel of judges evaluating your essay. The aggregate information collected through this form will be kept private. There will be no impact on your application if you choose not to answer any of these questions. Thank you for helping us to collect important data!​​​

student demographic information form

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
After essays are judged, the award-winning students and their teachers will be notified in April, and results will be announced on the Writing Contest page.