WESTPORT — “Identity” — defined in personal, community and acceptance terms — is the theme of this year’s Teen Diversity Essay Contest, co-sponsored by TEAM Westport and the Westport Library.

The 12th annual contest is open to entries from students at Staples High Schools and local private high schools, as well as those who live in Westport but attend high school elsewhere.

For contest details and how to enter, including the application form, click here. Deadline to file entries is 11:59 pm Monday, March 10, according to the contest announcement.

Prompts to guide contest entries, as outlined by the town’s diversity advocacy committee and the library, follow:

• Which aspects of your identity feel most central to how you wish to be understood and accepted?

• How do aspects of your identity shape your daily school and community experiences, including both challenges and opportunities in expressing these parts of yourself?

• What specific changes could our community make to decrease identity-based bias, bullying and hate?

Depending on the volume and quality of entries, at the discretion of the judges, up to three cash prizes will be awarded, according to the announcement. First prize is $1,000, second is $750 and third is $500.

Winners will be announced at an April 28 ceremony at the library.

“Our community conversation to uncover ways to ensure that there is ‘No Place for Hate’ is ongoing,” Harold Bailey Jr., the TEAM Westport chair, said in the contest announcement.

“As we begin the launch our 12th year of the essay contest, nothing could be more current than the issue of personal identity,” he added. “… We invite our young people to share their experiences around identity to help shape a world in which everyone belongs with mutual respect.”