National Reading Competition for High Schools

The WordWright Challenge* is a national reading competition for students in grades 9 through 12 that requires analytical reading of many kinds of prose and poetry. It emphasizes perceptive interpretation, sensitivity to language, and an appreciation of style. More than 59,000 students from some of the best public and private high schools in 47 states participated last year.

The WordWright Challenge* is a Great Instructional Tool
This is not just a competition. Along with the contest materials, we provide vocabulary lists for pre-test preparation as well as post-test discussion and essay questions. Sometimes, we include cartoons that bear on the passage the students have just read. Though the contests themselves will average no more than 40 minutes in length, each test and related discussion can productively occupy two full periods of class time if you choose.

The WordWright Challenge* dovetails well with the Common Core's emphasis on close reading and analysis of many different kinds of texts, and is useful as preparation for the verbal SAT I, the SAT II in English, and the English Advanced Placement exams in language and literature. But it has many benefits beyond test preparation. And it's fun.

WordWright Challenge Texts
Texts for the the WordWright Challenge* can range from short fiction by John Updike or Eurora Welty to poetry as old as Shakespeare's or as recent at Margaret Atwood's, to essays as classic as E. B. White's or as current as a Time Magazine opinion piece by James Poniewozick. (To see a list of sample texts and sample multiple-choice questions, click on the "Samples" link above. The two-page list there is in pdf format and can be printed out if you'd like.)

Though our texts vary widely in voice, subject, tone, and length, they have one thing in common: style. They all use language skillfully to convey layers and shades of meaning not always apparent to students on a first or casual reading.

And they all reward the careful rereading and attention to style that our multiple-choice questions encourage.

Contact us for more information and enrollment forms. The deadline for enrolling in the 2014-2015 WordWright Challenge* is September 30, 2014.

*formerly known as The WordMasters Challenge.