The 5th Grade Creative Writing Contest [1] provides youth with an opportunity to learn more about immigration to the U.S. and to explain, in their own words, why they are proud America is a nation of immigrants. Twenty-one AILA Chapters participated in this year’s (2012) contest. The top entry from each participating AILA Chapter was judged by a panel immigration experts who chose the top five (shown in bold).
| Chapter | Winner | Coordinator | |
| Alabama/Georgia | Ben Thompson | Bob Beer | |
| California (Southern) | Richard Medina | Maggie Castillo & Silvia Martinez | |
| |
California (Northern) | Aedra Li | Brenda Boudreaux |
| Carolinas | Adrian Sandoval | Jeremy McKinney | |
| Chicago | Alexander Tymouch | Tzu-Kai Lo | |
| DC | Irina Elizabeth Fuss | Jinhee Wilde | |
| Florida (Central) | Brooke Turpin | Alison Foley | |
| Florida (Southern) | n/a | Julie Ferguson | |
| Hawaii | Emily Montes | Maile Hirota | |
| Indiana | Olivia Clare Schroder | Lalita Haran | |
| Michigan | Sabrina Itawi | Joel Wisniewski | |
| Minnesota/Dakotas | Diego Piccaso Gonzalez | Sarah Brenes | |
| Missouri/Kansas | Samantha Nelson | Monica Smith | |
| New England | Jane Stilwell | Larissa Drayer | |
| Nevada | Malini Narula | Margo Chernysheva | |
| New Jersey | Jacob Salerno | Ada Lil Torres | |
| New York | Kalissa Persaud | Aygal Charles | |
| Oregon | Harry Popovich | James Lane | |
| Philadelphia | Megan Miller | Audrey Allen & Greg Eck | |
| San Diego | Rachel Banister | Linda Schweitzer | |
| Texas | Nikita Ranjit Nair | Megan Long | |
| Washington | Emma Snavely | Kelsey O'Keefe | |
| Wisconsin | Alfonso Baker | Geoff Lacy |