What’s bothering you? Who may do one thing about it? What may you say to steer that individual to care or to make change? How may you make us care, too?
These are the questions we posed to youngsters for our new Open Letter Contest this spring, inviting college students to put in writing public-facing letters to folks or teams about points that mattered to them. We obtained over 8,000 in response.
Written to senators about making well being care extra accessible, to Gen Z about embracing kindness, and to Taylor Swift about lowering her carbon emissions, the letters have been direct, passionate and highly effective. We even obtained one addressed to us, The Studying Community, to which we might be posting a reply subsequent week.
Beneath, and on this PDF, you’ll discover the record of the greater than 150 finalists whose work we’re honoring. We’ll be publishing the 9 profitable letters in full — one every day over the subsequent two weeks. We hope you’ll learn them and let the writers know what you assume by commenting on their work.
However, as we all know from operating contests for years, profitable isn’t the one reward. Of their accompanying course of statements, many echoed this sentiment by Victoria Anderson-Lynch, whose letter to road harassers made it to our remaining spherical of judging:
It began as a immediate given to me as an task signaling the tip of our grading interval, nothing greater than one other factor so as to add to my ever rising to-do record … Someplace alongside the way in which my priorities modified. This letter has now not been written for the sake of getting it performed, it’s not for any trainer or grade. I’m not submitting this with any intention of profitable, as a result of what I’ve found all through this writing course of is one thing extra highly effective than an award will ever maintain. I used to be given the privilege of discovering my voice. For the primary time in my life I perceive the facility my phrases maintain. I hope sometime others will resonate with that energy and use it to discover a voice of their very own.
Thanks to all the scholars who participated, and to the educators who took an opportunity on this new contest.
When you loved this problem, be a part of us for our Summer season Studying Contest by Aug. 16.
Scholar Open Letter Contest Winners
In alphabetical order, by the author’s first identify, beneath, and on this PDF.
High 9 Winners
Alexander Klee, 16, Amity Regional Excessive Faculty, Woodbridge, Conn.: “Each Excessive Faculty Scholar Can Save a Life”
Alexis Rippon, 13, Geelong Grammar Faculty, Geelong, Australia: “The Satan From Down Underneath”
Anya Wang, 16, Ridge Excessive Faculty, Basking Ridge, N.J.: “A Letter From a ‘Loser’”
Casey Goldstein, 17, Byram Hills Excessive Faculty, Armonk, N.Y.: “Pricey New York State Senators, May You Please Repeat That?”
Emma Wang, 15, Choate Rosemary Corridor, Wallingford, Conn.: “Reclaiming Singapore’s Credit score for Success: Eradicating Colonialist Statues”
Justin, 16, Seoul Overseas Faculty, Seoul: “A Letter to Midjourney”
Leela Uppaluri, 16, The Winsor Faculty, Boston: “Accepting Autism: A Sibling’s Perspective”
Lucy Robb, 17, Jesuit Excessive Faculty, Portland, Ore.: “Grass Lawns: Lavish and Lamentable”
Oliver Bohon, 17, Bloomington Excessive Faculty South, Bloomington, Ind.: “Insulin: Medication vs. Dividends”
Runners-Up
Aila Woods, 17, Brooklyn Technical Excessive Faculty, Brooklyn, N.Y.: “To the Moms of the 9-Yr-Olds in Sephora”
Aliyah Majeed-Corridor, 16, The Potomac Faculty, McLean, Va.: “Why Gen Z Wants Ted Lasso”
Callisto Lim, 17, Kinder Excessive Faculty for the Performing and Visible Arts, Houston: “Reinstate DEI in Texas Universities: An Open Letter”
Celine Tay, 17, Shanghai: “Pricey Mothers and Dads, We Ought to Discuss About Intercourse”
Jessie Hui Hu, 17, Colégio Bandeirantes, São Paulo, Brazil: “Pricey Taylor Swift, Let’s Shake Off These Carbon Emissions!”
Lauren, 14, Seoul Worldwide Faculty, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea: “An Open Letter to Mr. James Quincey Addressing Employee Exploitation in India”
Matan Davies, 17, Scarsdale Excessive Faculty, Scarsdale, N.Y.: “An Open Letter to Governor Hochul From a Excessive Schooler Coming into Society”
Natalie Krause, 16, South Lyon Excessive Faculty, South Lyon, Mich.: “My (Menstrual) Training”
Niah L. Maduakolam, 15, Munster Excessive Faculty, Munster, Ind.: “An Open Letter to Faculties Districts that Discriminate In opposition to Afro-Centric Hairstyles”
Om Nair, 17, North Carolina Faculty of Science and Arithmetic, Durham, N.C.: “An Open Letter to the Commissioner of the F.D.A., Written By a Maternal Orphan”
Rongfei Mu, 16, Beijing World Youth Academy, Beijing: “An Open Letter to Prime Minister Kishida”
Sofia Fontenot, 18, Kinder Excessive Faculty for the Performing and Visible Arts, Houston: “An Open Letter to Labi Siffre”
Sophie Jin, 14, Shanghai American Faculty, Shanghai: “N.Y.C. Must Pee — An Open Letter to the New York Metropolis Council”
Honorable Mentions
Abigail King, 16, Pleasantville Excessive Faculty, Pleasantville, N.Y.: “An Open Letter to Psychological Well being Professionals From a Member of the Lockdown Era”
Amy Lau, 15, Roosevelt Excessive Faculty, San Antonio, Texas: “Letter to Washington: Finish the Use of Hateful Rhetoric”
Anniyah Rizvi, 17, Langley Excessive Faculty, McLean, Va.: “An Open Letter to the English Language”
Ava Resnick, 13, Moral Tradition Fieldston Faculty, Bronx, N.Y.: “An Open Letter to Screenagers: Begin Residing Exterior the Telephone-Formed Field”
Caroline Serenyi, 18, Holton-Arms Faculty, Bethesda, Md.: “A Vital Breakup”
Chiana Le, 17, Tarbut V’Torah Group Day Faculty, Irvine, Calif.: “Dental Healthcare Isn’t a Privilege, It Is a Pure Proper”
Chidera Okeke, 15, The Berkshire Faculty, Sheffield, Mass.: “Written within the Margins”
Claire Weng, 14, Clements Excessive Faculty, Sugar Land, Texas: “Leaving Library Fines Behind”
Clementine Lu, 15, World Overseas Language Faculty: “Let Youngsters Be Youngsters in Excessive Faculty Interviews”
Cyrus Sarfaty, 17, Higher Canada School, Toronto: “Regrets From a Font-Fretting Fussbudget”
Daniel Kang, 16, Tanglin Belief Faculty, Singapore: “Open Letter to Males: Breaking the Silence on Psychological Well being”
Ella Dickinson, 15, East Chapel Hill Excessive Faculty, Chapel Hill, N.C.: “Pricey United States Preventative Job Pressure”
Eva Manevski, 17, South Lyon Excessive Faculty, South Lyon, Mich.: “Oh Crickets: Turning Over a New Leaf for Meals”
Felize Riona G. Ilagan, 16, Philippine Science Excessive Faculty – Principal Campus, Quezon Metropolis, Philippines: “An Open Letter to the Tycoons of the International North”
Georgia Bond, 17, Decrease Merion Excessive Faculty, Ardmore, Pa.: “Reforming Our School Admissions Tradition”
Harshitha Sudhakar, 17, South Lyon Excessive Faculty, South Lyon, Mich: “What Is the Worth in Film Classics?”
Irene Yebin Joh, 14, Seoul Worldwide Faculty, Gyeonggi-do: “Past ‘Gifted’: Embracing Range in Washington’s Lecture rooms”
Isha Harbaugh, 17, Bloomington Excessive Faculty South, Bloomington, Ind.: “My Life, My Selection: An Open Letter”
Jessica Zhang, 15, Sage Hill Faculty, Newport Seaside, Calif.: “Quick Vogue Manufacturers: Your Younger Clients Are Heading for the Exit”
Jina Music, 15, Seoul Overseas Faculty, Seoul: “Mayor Oh, Cease Suffocating Us With Seoul’s Waste”
Kathryne Hong, 16, Durham Academy: “Farewell From Nowhere”
Leah Platts-Mills, 14, Smith Center Faculty, Chapel Hill, N.C.: “An Open Letter Advocating for Accessible Swimming Classes”
Lila Boutin, 16, Faculty One, Windfall, R.I.: “Pricey U.S.D.A.: Underresourced Communities Can Solely Be part of Your ‘Individuals’s Backyard Initiative’ As soon as They Have Entry to Assets for Rising”
Lila Cassinari, 15, Farmington Excessive Faculty, Farmington, Conn.: “Fueling the Future: A Scholar’s Proper to Eat”
Lola Babinski, 15, Lyons Township Excessive Faculty, Western Springs, In poor health.: “Normalize Noise-Cancelling”
Lucas Rounds, 15, Open World Studying, Saint Paul, Minn.: “An Open Letter to Millionaires Who Maintain Our Healthcare Hostage, and the American Healthcare System”
Qiming Yang, 18, Emma Willard Faculty, Troy, N.Y.: “An Open Letter to Excessive Faculty Educators: The Case for House Economics”
Nathan Yam, 14, Worldwide Christian Faculty: “Nuclear Energy Is Safer and Greener Than You Suppose: A Letter to Greenpeace”
Ngoc Linh Nguyen, 17, Vinschool Good Metropolis, Hanoi, Vietnam: “Tote Overload: A Letter to Cotton Tote Bag Customers”
Nickohli Beiersdorf, 17, James E. Dottke Challenge-Based mostly Studying Excessive Faculty, West Allis, Wis.: “A Letter to the Metallic Group (From a Metalhead)”
Paula Garcia Moreno Caraza, 17, Instituto Mexicano Regina, Mexico Metropolis,: “An Open Letter to Mexico’s Undecided Voters”
Santiago Vira, 17, Brooklyn Technical Excessive Faculty, Brooklyn, N.Y.: “To the 3-D Printing Trade, Let’s Repair This”
Sophia Tsien, 17, Bergen County Technical Excessive Faculty, Teterboro, N.J.: “Pricey Congress: Let the China Initiative Rot”
Vale Kerns, 18, Arlington Profession Heart, Arlington, Va.: “Well being of a Nation”
Vanessa Moffett, 15, Jack, Emma and Grace, Bernards Excessive Faculty: “Peaking at 16: Unregulated Aggressive Sports activities Are Breaking Youngsters’s Our bodies and Minds”
Xinyi (Cindy) Zeng, 15, Milton Academy, Milton, Mass.: “(An Unapologetically Pink) Letter to the Nationwide Speech and Debate Affiliation on Gender Bias in Debate”
Extra Finalists
Thanks to our contest judges.
From The New York Occasions: Ana Paola Wong, Ana Sosa, Anastasia Marks, Anita Patil, Dana Davis, Elie Levine, Emma Grillo, Emma Kehlbeck, Evan Prince, Helmuth Rosales, Isaac Aronow, John Otis, Juliette Seive, Kassie Bracken, Ken Paul, Kendal Simmons, Kirsten Akens, Kristina Samulewski, Margaret Goldberg, Mark Walsh, Mathilde Tanon, Matt Twomey, Melissa Su, Natoria Carey, Nina Feinberg, Phoebe Lett, Rebecca Katzman, Robyn Roberts, Rollin Hu, Steven Rocker, Sue Mermelstein, Sunhee Evans, Sydney Stein and Vivian Giang
From The Studying Community: Jeremy Engle, Katherine Schulten, Michael Gonchar, Natalie Proulx and Shannon Doyne
Educators and writers from colleges and organizations across the nation: Annissa Hambouz, Caroline Gilpin, Elisa Zonana, Erica Ayisi, Jeremy Hyler, Kathy Curto, Kim Pallozzi, Kimberly Wiedmeyer, Melissa Slater, Sharon Murchie, Shira Katz, Susan Josephs, Tanya Wadhwani, Tom Houston, Tom Rademacher and Zoe Yu
