The ESU Kentucky Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based educational program serving grades 9-12. Since 1983, the competition has engaged more than 400,000 young people. Approximately 2,500 teachers and 20,000 students in nearly 60 ESU Branch communities participate each year.

The ESU Kentucky Shakespeare Competition is aligned with modern educational practices. Participating students:

• practice essential skills such as critical thinking, close reading and public speaking
• work through all 6 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, from recall to creation, increasing self-confidence through reading, analysis and performance of Shakespeare
• have multiple points of entry to explore universal themes and are challenged to decode for themselves the complex beauty of Shakespeare’s language 
• work with teachers and peers in a student-centered program of experiential and cross-curriculum learning
• meet local, state and national standards in English Language Arts and Drama.

Documents & Forms

All materials including the online school participation form, teacher and student handbooks, and packets of monologues and sonnets are located here. (Updated information for 2026 will be available in September, 2025)

Branch Competition Information

The 2026 Annual Kentucky Branch Shakespeare Competition will take place on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at Anderson County High School in Lawrenceburg, KY.  

Branch Contact

Questions about how to get involved? Contact us at ESU.Kentucky.Branch@gmail.com

Fall (School Level)

The program begins in classrooms nationwide each fall, culminating in school-wide competitions in early winter in which students memorize and perform a monologue.

Winter (Community Level)

The school competition winner advances to a community ESU Kentucky Branch competition, usually held in February. Here students perform their monologue and a Shakespearean sonnet. The winner advances to the national competition held in New York City.

Spring (National Level)

At the ESU National Shakespeare Competition (held in late April, near Shakespeare’s birthday on April 23), students perform their monologues and sonnets at the Lincoln Center in New York City before a distinguished panel of judges as well as their fellow contestants from across the country. Based on their performances, seven to ten students advance to the final round. Finalists compete for cash prizes and the opportunity to attend a summer theatre program.