TEAM Westport Teen Diversity Essay Contest 2026 Deadline

TEAM Westport, in partnership with The Westport Library, is proud to announce its 13th Annual Teen Diversity Essay Contest.

The deadline for this year’s contest is 11:59 pm on Monday, March 16, with an awards ceremony being held at the Library on Tuesday, April 28, to announce the winners.

The prompt and contest entry rules are all available at teamwestport.org.

The contest is open to all high school students (grades 9-12) who are Westport residents or attend a Westport school (public or private).

The contest is a competition aimed at engaging student reflection on topics that might present challenges to the Town of Westport’s publicly declared commitment to “fostering a civic culture that provides equitable respect, belonging and treatment of all citizens, students, employees and visitors by its populace, government, schools, businesses, and organizations.”

For the past 23 years, TEAM Westport has been a town-appointed committee focused on making Westport proactively welcoming with respect to race, ethnicity, religion, and LGBTQI-A.

The theme of this year ‘s essay topic is the Declaration of Independence.

This year’s prompt is as follows:

This year, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document which Abraham Lincoln called “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.”

The Declaration of Independence was a product of its time, drafted to rally the colonists to defy Great Britain, support the creation of an autonomous and independent nation and attract allies to its cause. Nonetheless, its claims have been universalized and imbued with fresh meaning by people here and around the world who have regarded it as an enduring beacon of hope in their own work to seek equal rights, freedom and self-determination. The famous words in the Declaration’s preamble proclaiming as a self-evident truth that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights endowed by their Creator, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been widely employed to assert the inherent dignity and fundamental human rights of each person.

The Declaration of Independence is a foundational document in American political and social life that also inspires TEAM Westport’s mission: to build a community where diversity is welcomed, and inclusion, respect, and belonging are actively extended to all who live, work, attend school, or visit in Westport — regardless of ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

In 1,000 words or less please comment on the following:

1) The relevance and value of the Declaration of Independence in your everyday life and your duties or obligations, if any, to uphold its principles for all people living within our democratic society; AND…

2) Opportunities, if any, you believe town leaders (including fellow students, school officials, community members and TEAM Westport) could create to act differently or additionally to reinforce the principles of the Declaration of Independence.