Dr. Howard F. Beckley was a part-time college instructor who served on the Denver Branch Board. He was concerned about the quality of writing from his students and wanted the Branch to add a program to help high school students improve their writing skills. After his sudden death, other Board members took the initiative to develop a Writing Competition to honor Dr. Beckley’s memory.

We launched the competition in 2010, when the Denver Branch hosted the ESU National Conference. The topic was our conference theme: Westward Ho! The Continental Expansion of the English Language. Every year since its inception, we have expanded our reach to involve more schools, teachers and students. The Covid-19 pandemic presented new challenges but the program continues.

Each year, one or two teachers coordinate the Writing Competition. They choose a topic and advertise it with a standard rubric so students know how they will be judged. We advertise the competition in the fall, with a deadline around Thanksgiving. A committee of Board members and interested Branch members reads the submissions, discusses and ranks them, choosing the top five. We give cash prizes: first place $500, second place $250, third place $100; some years we award $50 honorable mention prizes for fourth and fifth places. We present awards for the competition at our December holiday party, where winning students read their submissions.