Submissions are invited for Student Open Letter Contest 2024 by The New York Times. The last date of submission is May 1, 2024.
About NYT
The New York Times (NYT) Company is an American mass media company that publishes The New York Times newspaper. Their headquarters are located in Manhattan, New York City.
Contest Details
What’s bothering you? Who could do something about it? What could you say to them that would persuade them to care, or to make change?
In our new contest, we invite students to respond to those questions by writing an open letter a published letter of protest or appeal usually addressed to an individual, group or institution but intended for the general public.
Your open letter should:
- Focus on an issue that matters to you.
- Address a specific audience.
- Issue a call for action or reflection.
- Persuade readers with examples and evidence.
- Be written as a letter with a strong sense of voice.
Contest Rules
- This contest is open to students ages 13 to 19 in middle or high school anywhere in the world.
- Your submission must be 460 words or fewer.
- Your open letter must draw on at least one Times source and one reliable non-Times source. Cite all sources.
- Students may work together for this contest; however, each student may submit only one entry.
Prize
Having your work published on The Learning Network and being eligible to have your work published in the print New York Times.
How to Submit?
Interested students can submit online via this link.
Submission Deadline
The last date of submission is May 1, 2024.
Contact
Email: LNFeedback[at]nytimes[dot]com
How is this contest different from your long-running Editorial Contest? Can we still use those materials?
For a decade NYT ran an editorial contest, and the students who participated wrote passionately about all kinds of things — A.I., fast fashion, race, trans rights, college admissions, parental incarceration, fan fiction, snow days, memes, being messy and so much more. You can still write about the issues and ideas that fire you up — it’s just that this time around you’ll be framing your work as a letter to a person who has the power to make change on or bring understanding to that issue.
The related guide has more about the differences between a traditional opinion essay and an open letter, but the many materials we developed for that earlier contest are also woven into the guide, as concepts like ethos, logos and pathos are still very much relevant to this challenge.
I have no idea what to write about. Where should I start?
The Student Opinion forum can help via its many questions that encourage you to brainstorm both the audience you might write to and the topics you’d like to address.
