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The Texas Center for the Book is delighted to announce the opening of the Letters About Literature Texas writing contest for 2025-2026. Texas 4th through 12th graders are invited to participate in this annual writing competition.

Students select a book, book series, essay, play, poem, short story, or speech and write a letter to an author—living or dead—explaining how his or her work changed their view of themselves or the world.

The theme of Letters About Literature is “Read. Be Inspired. Write Back.”

Students may have a strong connection to the theme of the work or with a particular character. They may write about challenging events in their lives that relate to a book they have read. The possibilities are limitless, and the Center looks forward to reading this year’s entries.

There are three categories of competition: grades 4-6, grades 7-8, and grades 9-12. The contest is open to all Texas students, including public, private, and homeschool.

First-place winners receive $300. Second-place winners receive $200, and third-place winners receive $100. Additionally, the Center will give $300 grants to the school libraries of each first-place winner (or for homeschoolers, their public library.) First-place winners will also receive a travel stipend ($400) to go towards travel to the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Houston in March 2026. The winning students will be recognized in a ceremony at the conference.

Many thanks to the Texas Library and Archives Foundation for their support of the Letters About Literature Texas program.

Application information The deadline to enter Letters About Literature Texas for 2025-2026 has passed. We will announce the winners in mid-March.