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Email: lwvsouthcentraltx@gmail.com
Phone: 361-772-3228
LWV of South Central Texas
PO Box 78
Hallettsville, TX 77964
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HomeStudent Writing Showcase
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Download a pdf of the Student Writing Showcase Guidelines here


We will begin accepting entries for recognition at our March 9, 2025 Women Making History Celebration on January 1, 2025.

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What is the Celebrating Women's Heritage: Student Writing Showcase?


The purpose of the Celebrating Women's Heritage: Student Writing Showcase is to engage students to honor and celebrate women who have made a real difference in the lives of people in their local communities.

The League of Women Voters (LWV), the showcase sponsor, was founded in 1920, the year women won the right to vote. Our vision has stayed the same since that time:

We envision a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate.

We are a nonpartisan community organization that encourages active participation in the community and the civic process.

The LWV of South Central Texas works on vital issues of concern to rural counties in our South Central Texas community. We honor and celebrate the work of women who have made Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, and Lavaca Counties better through their lives. We want to make the work of these women visible and inspire other women and girls to actively participate, lead, and boldly achieve for themselves and the communities. 

Showcase Focus

Any student in our five-county area currently enrolled in grades 9-12 in a public, parochial, or private school, or a home study program is eligible to participate. Their goal? To celebrate a woman of heritage with an original essay or poem. Students will research South Central Texas women who have gone on before. Students may also find women across Texas, but extra credit will be given to entries featuring women with ties to our five-county area.

Students may use oral history, word of mouth, and information published in print or online as inspiration to create an original essay or poem. 

How should students go about this?

  1. Do the research: Students can ask family, friends, elders and civic leaders about women they remember who made a difference. Explore books and newspapers, ask local librarians, newspapers writers or area teachers. Ask the woman's descendants. People love to share about those who contributed to their lives. Then dig deeper. What was the world like when this woman lived? What makes her story special? Include who you spoke with in your essay or poem.

  2. Submit your entry: Submit an original essay or poem, celebrating a women of generations past with roots or ties to Texas. Entries that feature a woman with South Central Texas roots or ties will receive extra credit points. We consider South Central Texas to include Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, and Lavaca Counties.
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Who May Participate: Entrant Requirements

  1. Students must live in Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, or Lavaca County.
  2. Students must be enrolled in a public, parochial, or private school or a home study program.
  3. Students must be in grades 9-12.
  4. All entries must be the student’s original work and written by only one writer, with no significant guidance from an adult.

Selection Criteria & Awards


A panel of LWV member judges will review the submissions anonymously and select the three most outstanding entries for recognition at the Women Making History: Here Story Is Our Story celebration on March 9, 2025. The judges will assess each entry using the following criteria:

  • How well does it tell the story of a woman from our area’s past – in your own words?
  • How well does it explain the impact this woman made on her community?
  • Does it broaden our understanding of the role that women have played in our community?
  • Is the entry inspiring? Will it encourage others to seek opportunities to grow?
  • Is the entry well written?
  • Extra Points: Does the woman described have ties to our South Central Texas community?

There will be three (3) awards of $500 each. All award-winning entries will be shared on the area League’s website. Honorees will read or perform their entries at the Women Making History Student Writing Showcase on March 9, 2025, at Historic Casino Hall in La Grange, Texas.

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Writing Guidelines

  1. Directly copying and pasting content or segments of content from the web or print materials will disqualify an entry. If you quote sources, please credit them.
  2. Entries must be typed and submitted in English.
  3. Use 12-point Times New Roman type for all entries.
  4. Poems should be no longer than two pages, and essays should be 500-1000 words, double-spaced.
  5. Title your essay or poem at the top. Put your name, phone number, and email at the bottom. Please do not put your name on the first page, as entries will be judged blind and names must be easy to remove or mask.
  6. Entries must be submitted via the Women Making History Student Writing Showcase portal on the League of Women Voters of South Central Texas’ website.
  7. Entries may be submitted between January 1-26, 2025, and must be received by midnight on January 26, 2025.  
  8. Illustrations or photos contributing to the written piece are acceptable but not required.
  9. A parent or guardian must sign the form granting permission for the League of Women Voters of South-Central Texas to share the entry and the student’s name and photo at the award event, on the LWV website, and in follow-up publicity, in both print and social media.
  10. A signed permission form must accompany each entry.


How to Submit Your Entry

  1. Save your written entry in Portable Document Format (PDF).
  2.  Download the permission form and get a parent or adult guardian to sign it.
  3. Scan your signed permission form.
  4. To submit your entry, complete the online submission form.  A link to the submission form will go live on this page on January 1.
  5. Double-check to ensure that all fields in the online submission form are complete and accurate, and that your submission includes both your entry and your signed permission form. 
  6. Submit your entry!

Participants will receive confirmation upon submission.

Download a PDF of the Showcase Guidelines here.
Download the permission form here.

For more information, contact Elota Patton, elotap@hotmail.com.


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The League of Women Voters of South Central Texas is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and tax exempt organization.
Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowable under the law. Tax identification number: 82-5336795