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 Greater Seattle region (Grades 9-12) will be competing for First Place at the Seattle Branch Finals with the winner advancing to the National Finals in New York City in April 2026. Students perform and recite Shakespeare monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: school, branch, and National levels.
If you are a drama or English 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.
Following are upcoming deadlines for this year’s competition:
- Branch Registration Deadline –
- School Registration Deadline –
- Branch Competitions must be held prior to March xx, 2026
- Branch Winner Packets must be returned to ESU by xx
The competition finals will be held at Lincoln Center in NYC in late April (date TBA).
2025 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
