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 Princeton area (Grades 9-12) will be competing for First Place at the Kansas City Finals with the winner advancing to the National Finals in New York City in April 2025. 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 Princeton Branch ESU Shakespeare Competition we be held on:
Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 3:00 pm at The Peddie School, 201 South Main St., Hightstown, NJ
Deadline for schools to submit their participation form is December 16, 2025
Deadline for schools to submit their winner form is February 5, 2026
If you have questions or concerns, reach out to Irene Fitzpatrick at princeton@esuus.org.
For 2026 NSC forms and more info go to the ESU national website.
The 2026 ESU National Shakespeare Competition is underway in schools across the country. Following are upcoming deadlines for this year’s competition:
- School Registration (Extended) Deadline – November 30, 2025
- Branch Competitions must be held prior to March 2, 2026
- Branch Winner Packets must be returned to ESU by March 16, 2026
The competition finals will be held at Lincoln Center in NYC on Monday, April 27, 2026.
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
From the left: First Place Hannah Cohen, Haddonfield Memorial High School