What Young Writers Project does

Young Writers Project (YWP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2006 and headquartered at 47 Maple St., Suite 216, Burlington, Vermont, that operates a free online community platform for teen writers and visual artists. The organization, led by Executive Director Susan Reid, serves a national and international audience of teenage creators, with active users identified from at least eleven U.S. states and territories including Vermont, Texas, Maryland, California, Virginia, Oregon, Massachusetts, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, and Guam. YWP runs with a lean staff of 1-10 employees and provides a safe, moderated venue for teen creative expression, mentorship, and publication.

Name

Young Writers Project

Legal name

Young Writers Project

Website

https://youngwritersproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Young Writers Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates a free online platform for teen writers and visual artists to publish work, participate in challenges, and connect with peers. Founded in 2006 in Burlington, Vermont, it serves a national teen audience.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Literary and Visual Arts Publishing

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Online & Hybrid Creative Writing Workshops (EDAMAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Writing Skills & Composition Enrichment (EDAMAJAC), Writing Critique Groups & Peer Workshops (EDAMAMAJ), Writing Craft & Technique Workshops (Voice, Structure, Character, Style) (EDAMAMAH)

Keywords

• Youth creative writing
• Teen arts community
• Nonprofit publishing platform
• Digital literary magazine
• Creative writing education

Headquarters

HQ city

Burlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Funding: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2006, Young Writers Project operates entirely on donated funds from foundations, corporate sponsors, and individual donors. No revenue is generated from users; the platform is free for all teen participants.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Young Writers Project operates a free online community platform where teen writers and visual artists publish creative work, take on weekly challenges, and connect with peers. Its flagship deliverables are the monthly digital magazine The Voice, the Tomorrow Project civic engagement contests, seasonal writing/art contests, alumni-led online workshops, and a teacher resources section — all delivered through a single web-based platform at youngwritersproject.org.

Product overview

Young Writers Project is a single, unified online community platform for teen writers and visual artists. The platform combines content publishing (Explore, The Voice digital magazine, Publications), community engagement (Connect features like Book Club and Comments), creative challenges (Challenges with weekly prompts and The Tomorrow Project civic engagement program), competitive events (Contests), educational content (Online Workshops, Resources), and communication tools (YWP Newsletter). All offerings are integrated within a single web-based platform accessible to teen creators from anywhere.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Voice: YWP's monthly digital magazine featuring writing and visual art from teen creators.
• Tomorrow Project
• ArtSpace

Products and services

• The Voice YWP's monthly digital magazine featuring selected writing and visual art from community members, organized into monthly issues with cover art and featured works. Free to read; serves as the flagship publication venue for teen creators.
• The Tomorrow Project A civic engagement and current issues program encouraging teen writers and artists to create work exploring contemporary issues with hope and solutions for tomorrow. Includes monthly contests and publication opportunities across writing and visual art.
• Contests Competitive writing and visual art contests including Spring Contest and other seasonal competitions, with award winners and honorable mentions published in The Voice magazine. Free to enter for community members.
• Weekly Challenges Weekly themed writing and visual art challenges with deadlines and submission guidelines, prompting community members to create and publish new work on a recurring cadence.
• Online Workshops Educational workshops led by YWP Alumni Advisors (e.g., Myth-Making and Myth-Telling, Photo Workshops Series) providing in-depth instruction on writing techniques, literary analysis, and photography. Free to community members.
• YWP Newsletter A monthly email newsletter providing updates on platform activities, new features, and community highlights, delivered free to subscribers.
• Publications Repository of published works and annual reports (e.g., YWP Annual Report 2023-24) documenting the organization's activities and impact for supporters and the public.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Figment: Figment (a former teen-focused online writing community owned by Penguin Random House) was a direct historical competitor for YWP's audience of teen writers seeking online publication and feedback. Although the platform's footprint has diminished, it represents the category of digital teen writing communities that YWP still serves.

Broad incumbents

• Wattpad: Wattpad is a large-scale global writing and reading platform with a significant teen user base for serialized fiction. It addresses the same end-user need (a place for young writers to publish and find readers) but operates as a venture-backed commercial platform with much broader scope and a fundamentally different business model than YWP.
• Community of Writers: Community of Writers hosts multi-day writing workshops, including programs for teens, covering fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. While it focuses on intensive workshop experiences rather than a year-round online community, it competes for the same teen creative-writing audience and donor mindshare in the literary nonprofit space.
• GrubStreet: GrubStreet is a Boston-based nonprofit creative writing center offering workshops, classes, and writing-centered events primarily for adults, with some teen/youth programming. It shares YWP's nonprofit, workshop-driven, publication-inclusive approach but is a larger, primarily adult-focused organization.

Direct peers

• National Writing Project: National Writing Project is a U.S. nonprofit network of teacher-leaders focused on improving writing instruction and youth writing outcomes. Its teacher-training and youth-publication activities closely parallel YWP's educator resources and The Voice publication, serving the same supplemental writing-education space.
• 826 National: 826 National is a nonprofit network of youth writing and tutoring centers serving K-12 students with creative writing workshops, publications, and tutoring. Like YWP, it offers free, mission-driven creative writing programs for young people and publishes student work, making it a direct mission and model peer.
• Writopia Lab: Writopia Lab runs creative writing workshops and camps for children and teens, both in-person and online, and publishes student work. It mirrors YWP's focus on teen creative writing instruction, mentorship, and publication, differing mainly in being a tuition-based program rather than a free nonprofit.
• The Telling Room: The Telling Room is a Maine-based nonprofit writing center offering free creative writing workshops, mentorships, and publication opportunities for young writers. Its free community model, mentorship by older writers, and youth publication output make it a strong operational analog to YWP.
• Society of Young Inklings: Society of Young Inklings is a nonprofit that provides creative writing mentorship and publication opportunities for youth ages 7-17. Its mentor-based model and youth publication focus overlap directly with YWP's Alumni Advisor workshops and The Voice magazine.

Others

• Vermont Arts Council: Vermont Arts Council is a state-level public funding body that distributes grants and capacity-building support to Vermont arts organizations, including YWP itself. It is not a peer in programming but a key ecosystem participant and funding counterpart for YWP's operations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ywpvt
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/young-writers-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Young Writers Project