Sunny Isles Beach is asking its middle schoolers a simple question: if you could add one new idea, program or improvement to your city, what would it be? The answer has to fit on one handwritten page, written without help from artificial intelligence, and the best three essays win gift cards of $300, $200 and $100.

Who can enter

The Florida City Week Writing Contest is open to Sunny Isles Beach residents in grades 6, 7 and 8. Students who are minors need a parent or guardian's permission. Entry is free. The only students left out are those whose immediate family or household includes a city employee or an elected official, a standard rule that keeps the judging clean.

That last point matters because of who does the judging. The city says its elected officials will read the essays and choose the three winners themselves, so a sixth grader's idea for the city lands directly in front of the people who run it.

The one rule that makes it different

Plenty of cities run essay contests. What sets this one apart is the format. Every entry must be handwritten and written independently, with no artificial intelligence assistance, and it has to be dropped off in person. There is no upload link and no email address. In a year when most school writing passes through a keyboard, the city is asking for a page of a student's own handwriting and thinking.

The prompt itself is practical. Students describe one new idea, program or improvement they would bring to Sunny Isles Beach, explain why it matters to the community, and lay out how it would help residents. That could be anything a 12-year-old notices on the walk to the bus stop or the beach: a new kind of park program, a fix for something that bugs them on Collins Avenue, an event they wish the city held.

How the essays are scored

The city has published its scoring sheet, which is useful for any student who wants to win rather than just enter. Each essay is graded out of 100 points:

  • Creativity and originality: 25 points
  • Community impact: 25 points
  • Explanation of the idea: 25 points
  • Organization and clarity: 15 points
  • Grammar and writing: 10 points

Read that list closely and the advice writes itself. Three quarters of the score rides on the idea, why it would matter and how well it is explained. Spelling and grammar count for just a tenth. A clear, specific, surprising idea on a neat page will beat a polished essay about nothing in particular.

Why now

The contest is Sunny Isles Beach's contribution to Florida City Week, which runs Oct. 19 to 25, 2026. The Florida League of Cities organizes the week each October to get residents, and especially students, to see how their local government works. Classroom visits, town hall tours and essay contests are among the activities the League suggests, and Sunny Isles Beach chose the essay.

It is a good moment for the question. The city just showed what an idea looks like once it is built. In September, Sunny Isles Beach held the grand opening of Intracoastal Sports Park at 15800 Collins Ave., with tennis and basketball courts, outdoor exercise equipment, restrooms and a walking path along the water. Residents with a Resident ID Card can reserve courts for free online up to seven days ahead, and rackets and basketballs are free for residents to borrow. A student looking for a model of a good proposal (a need, a place, a clear benefit) could do worse than to walk over and look.

Deadlines and how to enter

Entries are accepted from Monday, Oct. 19, through Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. Students or parents deliver the handwritten essay, along with the entry form posted on the city's contest page, to the Sunny Isles Beach Visitor Center at 18070 Collins Ave., open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. That gives students about two and a half weeks, including two full weekends, to think, draft and copy out a clean final page.

Winners will be notified by Nov. 13, and the city plans to recognize all three publicly on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6:30 p.m. For a middle schooler, that is a gift card plus the experience of being honored by the city for an idea its elected officials have read.

What parents can do this weekend

The contest window opens Monday, so this weekend is a good time to start. Take a walk or a bike ride around the neighborhood, from Pelican Community Park on North Bay Road to the beach paths and the new courts on the Intracoastal, and ask your student what they would change. Then let them write it, by hand, in their own words. That is the whole point.