The ESU National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based education program. High school students develop analytical and communication skills by performing Shakespeare at the school, community, and national levels. Since 1983 more than 360,000 students have brought the timeless works of Shakespeare to life.

The Competition helps students develop speaking and critical-thinking skills while they explore the beauty of the language and the timeless themes in Shakespeare’s works. By preparing a monologue and sonnet for public presentation, students bring Shakespeare to life in their own way and learn to express his works with understanding, clarity, and feeling. Approximately 2,500 teachers and 20,000 students in nearly 60 ESU branches participate each year.

High school students from the New Orleans area (Grades 9-12) will be competing for First Place at the New Orleans Finals with the winner advancing to the National Finals in New York City in April 2024. Students perform and recite Shakespeare monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: school, branch, and National levels.

If you are a Theatre, English, Forensics teacher, or administer a home school program, we encourage you to enter to give your students an opportunity to participate in this exciting competition. If you are an interested high school student, please alert your teachers to this valuable program. 

The 2025-2026 ESU National Shakespeare Competition is underway in schools across the country. Following are the deadlines and dates for this year’s competition:

• • School Registration Deadline – Friday, January 30, 2026
  • School Winner Deadline – Sunday, February 22, 2026
  • New Orleans Branch Competition – Sunday, March 8, 2026
  • Branch Winners Announced – Monday, March 9, 2026
  • Branch Winner Packets Deadline – Monday, March 16, 2026
  • National Shakespeare Competition Finals Weekend in New York City – Saturday, April 25 to Monday, April 27, 2026

The competition finals will be held at Lincoln Center in NYC in late April 

2026 Prizes Include:

• 1st place: British American Drama Academy Mid-Summer Conservatory Program in Oxford, London
• 2nd place: American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp in Staunton, VA
• 3rd place: $1000

Documents & Forms

All materials including the online school participation form, teacher and student handbooks, and packets of monologues and sonnets are located here.

Branch Contact

Contact New Orleans Branch Competition Coordinator Bruce Gordon for questions: Email

The ESU National Shakespeare Competition has been recognized by the Globe Center (USA), the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America and the American Academy of Achievement. It is the only national Shakespeare competition in the U.S. and the only such program exclusively for high school students.