2026 Oklahoma Youth Tour Contest
WHAT – Students will write a professional letter to a local, state or federal elected official about any topic that is important to the student.
WHO – The contest is open to all high school juniors in the Cotton Electric service area. The students and their families do not have to be Cotton Electric members. Juniors who are sons or daughters of Cotton Electric Cooperative employees and board members are not eligible to participate.
WHEN – The deadline to submit an essay and completed application is Jan. 15, 2026 at 3 p.m.
HOW – The contest is broken into two rounds and starts with the written letter portion.
Writers of the top 10 essays move to the second round, a live video interview, via Microsoft Teams. The question-and-answer interview between students and independent judges will be arranged by Cotton Electric.
The top two presenters will be awarded an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in June 2025.
The 3rd and 4th place students will be alternates. The top five presenters will be awarded a $100 gift card.
Important dates
Oct. 31, 2025 Contest opens for entries.
Jan. 15, 2026 Essay deadline – Essays must be submitted online by 3 p.m.
Feb. 3, 2026 Live video interviews of authors of Top 10 essays
Feb. 4, 2026 Winners are announced
Feb. 13, 2026 Youth Tour winner info due to OAEC
April 17, 2026 YT Orientation & Day at the Capitol
June 13-19, 2026 Oklahoma Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C.
2025 ESSAY CONTEST
CALL FOR ENTRIES
All high school juniors attending schools within the Cotton Electric Cooperative service territory are invited to enter the 2026 Cotton Electric Essay contest. The essay contest has two rounds and the top two entries will be awarded the following:
All-Expense-Paid trip to Washington D.C.
Entry forms and contest information is available at www.cottonelectric.com/youthtour.
The contest is open to all high school juniors attending or residing within the district of the schools listed below, including home-schooled students.
The schools are:
Big Pasture, Cache, Central High, Chattanooga, Comanche, Duncan, Elgin, Empire, Geronimo, Grandfield, Indiahoma, Lawton Eisenhower, Lawton High, Lawton MacArthur, Marlow, Ryan, Sterling, Temple, Velma-Alma, Walters and Waurika
Juniors who are sons or daughters of Cotton Electric Cooperative employees and board members are not eligible to participate.
Some schools listed may include students whose parents receive electric service from another electric cooperative. If their electric cooperative does not participate in Youth Tour, such students will be allowed to enter Cotton Electric Cooperative’s contest. If their cooperative sponsors a Youth Tour contest, those students have an option to choose between the two cooperatives. Students will be ineligible if they enter more than one essay or more than one contest.
CONTEST DETAILS
The contest is broken into two rounds and starts with the written letter portion.
Writers of the Top 10 letters move to the second round, a live video interview. The question-and-answer video call between students and independent judges will be arranged by Cotton Electric.
The Top 2 students will be awarded an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. in June 2025. The 3rd and 4th place students will be alternates. The top five students will be awarded a $100 gift card.
Contest dates
Oct. 31, 2025 Contest opens for entries.
Jan. 15, 2026 Essay deadline – Essays must be submitted online by 3 p.m.
Feb. 3, 2026 Live video interviews of authors of Top 10 essays
Feb. 4, 2026 Winners are announced
Feb. 13, 2026 Youth Tour winner info due to OAEC
April 17, 2026 Youth Tour Orientation & Day at the Capitol
June 13-19, 2026 Oklahoma Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C.
CONTEST RULES
- Applicants will write a professional letter to a local, state or federal elected official about a topic that is important to them. A template is available in the resources tab on the Youth Tour page. .
- Fill out all required fields and upload the letter referenced above at www.cottonelectric.com/youthtour.
- Deadline is 3 p.m., January 15, 2024 for uploading completed applications.
- BE ORIGINAL!
- Letters will be judged by the following criteria: Knowledge of subject, 40%; Originality, 30%; Composition, 10%; Grammar, 10%; and Spelling & Punctuation, 10%.
- Independent judges will score the essays. The process will narrow the pool of candidates to 10.
- In the second round of competition, the Top 10 students will be invited to participate in a live-video interview to discuss the essay and general cooperative knowledge with independent judges. Interview questions will be drawn from the reference materials listed on the Youth Tour page.
- The two top presenters will be awarded an all-expense-paid trip (valued at $3,500 per student) to Washington D.C. in June 2026.
- The third and fourth place students will be alternates. The top five students will receive a $100 gift card.
- Judges’ decisions throughout the process are final.
Students selected and sponsored by Cotton Electric Cooperative are expected to participate in required preparatory activities related to Oklahoma Your Tour and the full duration of the student program, including group travel to and from Washington, D.C. The student experience has a program value of $3,500 per participant. While cancellations are unfortunate, cancellations received/processed 60-days prior to the day of registration are appreciated and needed to allow cooperatives to find alternate student participants.
Families of selected students who cancel less than 60-days prior to the day of registration, may be responsible for reimbursing the sponsoring cooperative up to 50% of the program value. No shows and families of selected students failing to notify their sponsoring cooperative of nonparticipation, may be held responsible for reimbursing 100% of the program value.
For more information regarding the essay contest, call Cotton Electric at 580-875-3351 or email zyoung@cottonelectric.com.