JASNA is inviting submissions for Annual Student Essay Contest 2025. The last date of submission is June 2.
JASNA conducts an annual student Essay Contest to encourage the study and appreciation of Jane Austen’s works in new generations of readers.
Students world-wide are invited to compete for scholarship awards in three divisions:
Membership in JASNA is not required to enter the contest.
2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. The theme for our annual general meeting is “No check to my genius from beginning to end,” a joking remark from one of her letters. This has suggested the prompt for our contest this year, which is to choose something Austen has used in her novels—a particular word, a recurring situation or motif, perhaps a physical object, symbol or activity—and then choose two scenes (they may be from the same novel or different ones) where she employs the chosen “something” in contrasting or complementary ways. Explain the different roles it plays and why Austen uses them as she does. What point is she trying to make? Does she succeed? In conclusion, explain what prompted your choice.
Here are a few additional guidelines.
We will begin accepting entries online in February 2025. In the meantime, it is essential that you visit the Submissions page to learn about the contest rules and eligibility requirements before entering.
The deadline for submissions is June 2, 2025.
JASNA awards scholarships to winners in each of the three divisions:
Winners also receive one year of membership in JASNA, publication of their essays on this website, and a set of Norton Critical Editions of Jane Austen’s novels.
Please review the Essay Contest FAQs. If you have any questions, please contact Meg Levin at essay-contest@jasna.org. Use “JASNA Essay Contest” in your subject line.
