ChallengeUS, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to amplifying youth voices in civics, has announced a new publishing partnership with Stanford Political Review (SPR). Stanford's only multi-partisan political journal. Under the partnership, winning submissions from the ChallengeUS Future Leaders Competition will be published in SPR, giving young writers and thinkers from around the world a platform read by one of the country's leading student-run political publications.

Starting with the New Voters x ChallengeUS Future Leaders Competition, a joint initiative between ChallengeUS and New Voters open now through August 7, 2026, the winning submission compete across categories including creative writing, analytical writing, speech, and art will be featured in SPR. Students interested in entering can visit www.challengeusnow.org/competitions/summer-2026.

Beyond publishing individual winners, ChallengeUS and SPR will work together on a second project: a collective youth report that pulls together themes and ideas surfaced across the full pool of competition submissions beginning with the previous competition cycle's Climate Cardinals x ChallengeUS Future Leaders Competition. The report will be developed as a series of thought leadership articles and published through SPR, offering a broader look at how young people across the world are thinking about the political and civic issues that matter most to them.

"This partnership gives our students something rare: a prestigious platform, with a real audience, willing to take student perspectives seriously," said Brandon Tran, Founder and CEO of ChallengeUS. "We're putting ideas and perspectives not commonly heard in front of readers who shape political discourse to show that young people have something worth saying."

SPR will now serve as ChallengeUS's go-to publishing partner for future competition cycles, formalizing a relationship the two organizations expect to build on in the years ahead.

Competition Highlights:

• Grand Prize: $1,000 awarded to one Best Overall winner
• Category Winners: Four category winners recognized across creative writing, analytical writing, speech, and art
• Publication: All winning submissions will be published by ChallengeUS, and winners will be featured in biographical articles
• Network Access: Select participants will be invited to join the ChallengeUS Future Leaders Network, a global community of young changemakers
• Certificates: All winners receive a Certificate of Achievement

Participants are encouraged to submit entries to multiple categories to maximize their chances, though winners will only be awarded in one. Submissions are open to any student currently enrolled in an accredited high school or undergraduate program, regardless of country of residence. Students on academic gap years and homeschooled students are also eligible to participate. The competition is free to enter. 

About ChallengeUS: ChallengeUS is a nonprofit organization working to be the starting point on young people’s civic journey. Its mission is to critically engage and elevate youth voices on civic issues through organizing global civic competitions, thereby crowdsourcing youth-driven solutions to global challenges, all while investing in a global network of young leaders through scholarship prizes and award recognition. Through the Future Leaders Competition series that has reached thousands of students from over 100 countries, ChallengeUS facilitates opportunities for young people to practice democracy through research, storytelling, problem solving, and civic imagination. 

About Stanford Political Review: Stanford Political Review is Stanford's only multi-partisan political journal, publishing student writing and analysis on political and policy issues from across the ideological spectrum.

For full guidelines and submission details, visit www.challengeusnow.org/competitions/summer-2026 or email admin@challengeusnow.org.