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Our Seventh Annual Student Editorial Contest Is Open to All Middle and High School Students, Ages 10-19
Update, Feb. 2, 2021: The 2021 Student Editorial Contest will run from Feb. 23 to April 13. Here are this year’s rules and guidelines.
Update, June 17: Winners have been announced!
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Every school day, we use our daily Student Opinion feature to invite teenagers to share their opinions about questions we pose — and hundreds do, posting arguments, reflections and anecdotes.
Now, for the seventh year in a row, we’re inviting them to make those thoughts into something a little more formal: short, evidence-based persuasive essays like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day.
Students, the challenge is fairly straightforward. Choose a topic you care about — whether it’s something we’ve addressed on this site or not — then gather evidence from sources both within and outside The New York Times and write a concise editorial (450 words or fewer) to convince readers of your view.
Because editorial writing at newspapers is a collaborative process, you can write your entry as a team or by yourself — though, please, only one submission per student.
As teachers know, the persuasive essay has long been a staple of high school education, but the Common Core standards seem to have put evidence-based argumentative writing on everybody’s agenda. You couldn’t ask for a more real-world example of the genre than the classic newspaper editorial — and The Times publishes, on average, two of them a day.
And at a time when breaking out of one’s “filter bubble” is more important than ever, we hope this contest also encourages students to broaden their news diets by using multiple sources, ideally ones that offer a range of perspectives on their chosen issue.
Please note: This contest is open to all students ages 10-19 in middle school or high school. We will have two categories of winners this year.
Here are some useful resources so teachers and students can begin planning for this contest:
• Our full argument-writing unit.
• The winning entries from 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
• Our webinar: “Write to Change the World: Crafting Persuasive Pieces With Help From Nicholas Kristof and the Times Op-Ed Page”
• Our writing prompts: 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing plus 130 New Prompts for Argumentative Writing
• Our video “How to Write an Editorial”
• Our lesson plan: “10 Ways to Teach Argument-Writing With The New York Times” which links to many more resources relevant to this contest, including ideas from educators who teach with the contest annually.
• Our contest rubric
Students need to use at least one Times source to meet the contest minimum contest requirements. If your school does not have a Times subscription and students hit the Times paywall, then we recommend that they use The Learning Network to search for relevant Times articles. The links embedded in Learning Network resources are generally free. Students can find our search tool by scrolling down below the featured posts on our section front.
If you have any questions about this contest, please contact us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.
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How to Submit
We have changed our contest submission process to be better aligned with internet privacy laws around the world.
Students ages 16-19 can submit their own entries using our Student Submission Form, if they want.
Teachers can use our Teacher Submission Form to submit entries on behalf of students ages 10-19. The form allows teachers to submit multiple entries easily.
Also, please note that we have two categories of submissions: middle school and high school. We will choose winners from each category.
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2020 Contest Guidelines
1. You can write your editorial about any topic you like, as long as you use at least one source from The Times.
2. Use at least one non-Times source. But make sure that the source you use is a reliable one. We encourage you to find sources that offer different perspectives on an issue.
3. Always cite your sources. Our submission form contains a required field for entering your citations. We include an example as well, though you can use M.L.A. or A.P.A. styles, or just list the web addresses. Even if you use a print source or an expert interview, you must provide a citation. Readers (and judges) should always be able to tell where you got your evidence. However, there is no need to provide in-text citations.
4. The editorial must not exceed 450 words. Your title and list of sources are separate, however, and do not count as part of your 450-word limit.
5. Have an opinion. Editorials are different from news articles because they try to persuade readers to share your point of view. Don’t be afraid to take a stand.
6. Write your editorial by yourself or with a group, but please submit only one editorial per student. If you are working as a team, just remember to submit all of your names when you post your entry. And if you’re submitting as part of a team, you should not also submit as an individual.
7. Be original and use appropriate language. Write for a well-informed audience, but include enough background information to give context. Be careful not to plagiarize. Use quotation marks around lines you take verbatim from another source, or rephrase and cite your source.
8. We will use this rubric to judge entries, and the winning editorials will be featured on The Learning Network. Your work will be judged by Times journalists, Learning Network staff members and educators from around the country.
2020 Eligibility and Submission Rules
1. Students who are ages 10-19 from anywhere in the world can participate.
This contest is intended for middle school and high school students. (Because the term “high school” means different things in different places, age is the primary eligibility requirement.)
Update, March 4: To clarify the rules, students who have already graduated high school or who are attending college or university should not participate.
Further, to respond to new national and international privacy laws, we now offer two ways to submit work:
Teachers can use the teacher submission form on behalf of students from anywhere in the world who are ages 10-19.
We define “teacher” as someone who is 18 or older, who helps to educate a child. This definition can include traditional teachers as well as tutors, librarians and parents.
This option allows students under 16 to participate. Teachers can use one application to submit on behalf of multiple students.
Or, students who are ages 16-19 from anywhere in the world can submit by themselves via the student submission form.
Please note, again: Students who are under 16, regardless of where in the world they are from, must have a teacher submit on their behalf if they want to participate in this contest.
2. We have two entry categories for this contest: “middle school” and “high school.”
Eligibility for each category is determined by age, and we will announce two sets of winners.
Students who are ages 10 - 14 from anywhere in the world can participate in the middle school category.
The middle school category is open to all students between the ages of 10 and 14 who attend a middle school or the international equivalent of a middle school.
Students who are ages 13 - 19 from anywhere in the world can participate in the high school category.
The high school category is open to all students between the ages of 13 and 19 who attend a high school or the international equivalent of a high school. Because the term “high school” means different things in different places, age is the primary eligibility requirement.
Students who are ages 13 and 14 can participate in either contest category. However, they must choose one category; they cannot submit to both. Please choose the category that best reflects the way your own school system classifies you.
3. The children and stepchildren of New York Times employees are NOT eligible to enter this contest.
Nor are teenagers who live in the same household as those employees.
4. The deadline for this contest is Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
We provide a small window of time after that deadline to allow for technical difficulties. However, at some point after the deadline, our contest submission form closes and you will not be allowed to submit an entry, so please be mindful of the deadline and submit early.
Still Have Questions?
1. What is the “prize”?
Having your work published on The New York Times Learning Network — and, potentially, in print in a Times special section.
2. What if I need to prove to my teacher that I entered this contest?
Within an hour of submitting your editorial, you should receive an email from The New York Times Learning Network with the subject heading “Thank you for your submission to our Editorial Contest.” If you don’t receive the email within an hour, even after checking your spam folder, then you can resubmit your entry.
If, after two attempts and waiting over one full day, you still have not received a confirmation email, you can contact us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com with the email address you used in the contest form. Use the subject heading “Please send me an email confirmation for my Editorial Contest submission.” Be sure to include your name in your email. You may have to wait up to a week for a reply.
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