The 9th grade is the first year of high school, and the first step toward beginning your full-scale, college entrance exam preparations. Of course, you may have engaged in various extracurricular activities in your younger grades, but the 9th grade is the beginning of writing in-depth, fully-developed essays. Resultantly, this is a time when you can either start on or strengthen your work for essay competitions. The majority of J&B's 9th grade clients work on about three essay contests a year, and out of these, two to three are successful. While there is no such thing as an easy competition, now is the best time to work, step-by-step, on competitions worth your efforts.

✓ You can explore and discover which writing areas you like best
✓ You can examine academic fields that you like, develop your skills in these fields, and prepare for essay contests in the process
✓ You can improve your writing skills by submitting your work to various, well-respected essay competitions
✓ You can apply to the competitions you choose
✓ If you receive positive results from an essay contest, you can start preparing to apply to journals

Overview
The client had strong artistic tendencies, which were reflected in their writing skills. Rather than engaging in analytical research, the client felt more comfortable with creative writing and wrote a short story for the Scholastic competition. Additionally, as it was the client’s first year attending boarding school, they hoped to apply to an essay competition that was well within their range and not overwhelmingly difficult. Accordingly, the client applied to the Scholastic, New York Times, and John Locke essay contests in sequential order. While the Scholastic competition developed the client’s creative writing skills, the New York Times contest required that the client write a short article based on their own experiences. As the John Locke Essay Contest looks for the most unique topics from its Junior category, the competition helped the client freely express their creative perspective in writing.

Timelines
November - December: Scholastic

March - April: New York Times

May - June: John Locke

Result
The client received award(s)/publication(s) from three essay contest(s)/journal(s)

Overview
By working with J&B in the eighth grade, the client became a finalist in the John Locke Essay Competition and received a “Gold Key” prize from Scholastic. In the ninth grade, the client worked with J&B to prepare for Scholastic once again, submitting work to the contest in a different category, with a unique approach. In addition to Scholastic, J&B worked with the client on an essay for the New York Times and Ayn Rand contests. J&B helped the client decide on both competitions as the themes/prompts aligned with the client’s academic interests.

Timelines
November - December: Scholastic

January - February: New York Times

February - March: Ayn Rand

Result
The client received award(s)/publication(s) from three essay contest(s)/journal(s)

Overview
Although the client had not submitted work to an essay competition before, they had been taking debate classes with J&B since the 7th grade. The persuasive and argumentative skills they developed with J&B helped the client develop their voice as an essay writer. As the client planned to enter a paper into the Concord Review when they entered the tenth grade, J&B selected essay competitions to adequately prepare them for their goals. J&B sequentially worked with the client on essays for the Harvard International Review and Harvard Economic Essay Contest. At the same time, the following year, J&B worked with the client on two essays in separate categories for the John Locke Essay Competition.
 
Timelines 
June – August: Harvard International Review

October - December: Harvard International Economic Essay Contest

March - April: John Locke

Result
The client received award(s)/publication(s) from two essay contest(s)/journal(s)