Open Letters: Our Opinion-Writing Contest

What’s bothering you? Who might do one thing about it? What might you say to them that might persuade them to care, or to make change?

And … what if we all learn your letter? How might you make us care too?

These are a few of the questions we’re asking you to ponder for our Open Letter Contest. An open letter is a printed letter of protest or attraction often addressed to a person, group or establishment however meant for most people. Consider the various “Pricey Taylor Swift” open letters you’ll find on-line and on social media: Certain, they’re addressed to Ms. Swift, however they’re actually a method for the author to share opinions and emotions on feminism, or ticket gross sales, or the music trade, or … the record goes on.

As you may already know when you’ve learn Martin Luther King’s well-known Letter From Birmingham Jail, an open letter is a literary gadget. Although it appears on the floor to be meant for only one particular person or group, and subsequently often reads like a private letter (and might make readers really feel they’re in some way “listening in” on non-public ideas), it’s actually a persuasive essay addressed to the general public. This letter signed by over 1,000 tech leaders in regards to the risks of A.I., this humorous 2020 letter addressed to Harry and Meghan, and this video letter from younger Asian People to their households about Black Lives Matter are all examples of the custom.

Now we’re inviting you to attempt it your self. Write your individual open letter, to anybody you want on any subject you care about, so long as it is usually acceptable and significant for a basic Occasions viewers.

Whom must you write to? What must you say? How do open letters work?

The foundations and FAQ beneath, together with our Scholar Opinion discussion board and associated how-to information, can stroll you thru methods to get began.

Please publish any questions you have got within the feedback and we’ll reply you there, or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. And, take into account hanging this PDF one-page announcement in your class bulletin board.

The Problem

Write an open letter to a particular viewers that calls consideration to a difficulty or drawback and prompts reflection or motion on it.

Whether or not you select to write down to your dad and mom, academics, faculty board members or mayor; a member of Congress; the top of an organization; an artist or entertainer; or a metonym like “Silicon Valley” or “The Kremlin,” ask your self, What do I care about? Who could make modifications, huge or small, native or world, to handle my subject or drawback? What particularly do I would like my viewers to know or do? And the way can I write this as an “open letter,” compelling not simply to me and the recipient, however to the overall viewers who shall be studying my phrases?

The Occasions has revealed quite a few open letters over time, to each well-known and extraordinary folks. You could find an extended record of free examples in our associated information.

This contest invitations college students to precise themselves and picture that their phrases can result in actual change.

Your open letter ought to:

• Deal with a difficulty you care about and with which you have got some expertise. You may write about nearly something you want, whether or not it’s a critical subject like bullying, or one thing extra lighthearted like why bugs deserve respect, however we’ve got discovered over time that probably the most fascinating scholar writing grows out of private expertise. Our associated Scholar Opinion discussion board and how-to information may also help you give you concepts.

• Deal with a particular viewers related to the difficulty. Select a person, group, group or establishment who is able to make change or promote understanding about your matter.

• Name for motion, whether or not the change you search is one thing tangible, like asking Congress to enact a legislation or demanding an organization cease a dangerous follow, or one thing extra summary, like inviting your viewers to mirror on one thing they might have by no means thought-about.

• Be appropriate and compelling for a large basic viewers. An open letter concurrently addresses an express recipient — whether or not the president or your gymnasium instructor — in addition to us, most people, your implicit viewers. Although your letter may appear to be meant only for one individual, it’s actually making an attempt to influence all readers. Ensure you write it in such a method that it’s related, comprehensible, acceptable and significant for anybody who may come throughout it in The New York Occasions. (Once more, our associated information may also help.)

• Be written as a letter, in a voice and tone that’s acceptable for each your viewers and function. Are you merely taking an argumentative essay you’ve written for varsity already and slapping a “Pricey X” on prime of it and a “Sincerely, Y” on the underside? No. A letter — even an open letter — is completely different from a proper essay, and your writing ought to mirror that. Are you able to be casual? Humorous? If that is smart in your function and viewers, then sure, please.

  Our associated information, and the various examples we hyperlink to, may also help you concentrate on this, however we hope the format of a letter will allow you to loosen up a bit and categorical your self in your pure voice. (For instance, you’ll be writing as “I” or “we,” and addressing your letter’s recipient as “you.”)

• Additionally try to influence a basic viewers. Although it’s written within the type of a letter, it’s an opinion piece, and you are attempting to make a case and assist it with proof, as you’ll any argument. Bear in mind that you’re making an attempt to vary hearts and minds, so that you’ll be drawing on the identical rhetorical methods as you may need for our long-running editorial contest. (Once more, extra on this within the associated information.)

• Make your case in 500 phrases or fewer. Your title and sources aren’t a part of the phrase rely.

• Inform with proof from at the least two sources, together with one from The Occasions and one from exterior The Occasions. We hope this contest encourages you to deepen your understanding of your matter through the use of a number of sources, ideally ones that supply a spread of views. Simply ensure that these sources are reliable.

  As a result of it is a letter, not a proper essay, we aren’t asking you to offer in-text citations, however we shall be asking you to record the sources you used — as many as you want — in a separate discipline that doesn’t contribute to your phrase rely. Take into accout, nevertheless, that when you embrace proof from these sources, our readers (and judges) ought to all the time be capable to inform the place it got here from. Watch out to place quotations round any direct quotes you utilize, and cite the supply of something you paraphrase.

A Few Guidelines

Along with the rules above, listed below are a number of extra particulars:

• You should be a scholar ages 13 to 19 in center faculty or highschool to take part, and all college students should have dad or mum or guardian permission to enter. Please see the F.A.Q. part for added eligibility particulars.

• Your open letter needs to be authentic for this contest. Which means it shouldn’t have already got been revealed on the time of submission, whether or not in a college newspaper, for one more contest or anyplace else.

• Remember that the work you ship in needs to be acceptable for a Occasions viewers — that’s, one thing that might be revealed in a household newspaper (so, please, no curse phrases).

• You might work alone or in teams, however college students ought to submit just one entry every.

• You should additionally submit a brief, casual “artist’s assertion” as a part of your submission, that describes your writing and analysis course of. These statements, which won’t be used to decide on finalists, assist us to design and refine our contests. See the F.A.Q. to study extra.

• All entries should be submitted by April 16, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time utilizing the digital kind that we are going to add to the underside of this web page when the competition opens.

Assets for College students and Lecturers

Use these assets that can assist you write your open letter:

• Our step-by-step information: For use by college students or academics, this information walks you thru the method of writing an open letter.

• An inventory of free examples of open letters revealed each in and outdoors The New York Occasions, which you’ll find in our step-by-step information.

• The 9 profitable letters from our first Open Letter Contest.

• New for 2025: An version of our Conversations With Journalists collection by which college students are invited to pose questions for Margaret Renkl, a contributing author for the Occasions Opinion part, who typically makes use of the open letter format in her work.

• New for 2025: A librarian explains how she helped academics at her faculty educate with this contest — and create their very own mini model.

• A writing immediate: To Whom Would You Write an Open Letter? This immediate provides college students a “rehearsal house” for eager about to whom they’d like to write down, the explanation they’re writing and why they suppose that subject is vital — not just for the recipient but in addition for a wider viewers.

• Many, many extra argumentative writing prompts: We publish new argumentative writing prompts for college kids every week in our Scholar Opinion and Image Immediate columns. You could find all of them, as they publish, right here, or a lot of them, organized by matter, in our assortment of over 300 prompts.

• Argumentative writing unit: This unit contains writing prompts, lesson plans, webinars and mentor texts. Whereas it was initially written to assist our Scholar Editorial Contest, the assets may also help college students make compelling arguments, cite dependable proof and use rhetorical methods for his or her open letters as effectively.

• Our contest rubric: That is the rubric judges will use as they learn submissions to this contest.

Ceaselessly Requested Questions

Under are solutions to your questions on writing, judging, the principles and instructing with this contest. Please learn these completely and, when you nonetheless can’t discover what you’re in search of, publish your question within the feedback or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

Questions About Writing

How is that this contest completely different out of your long-running Editorial Contest? Can we nonetheless use these supplies?

For a decade we ran an editorial contest, and the scholars who participated wrote passionately about every kind of issues — A.I., quick vogue, race, trans rights, faculty admissions, parental incarceration, fan fiction, snow days, memes, being messy and a lot extra. You may nonetheless write in regards to the points and concepts that fireplace you up — it’s simply that this time round you’ll be framing your work as a letter to an individual who has the facility to make change on or convey understanding to that subject.

Our associated information has extra in regards to the variations between a conventional opinion essay and an open letter, however the many supplies we developed for that earlier contest are additionally woven into the information, as ideas like ethos, logos and pathos are nonetheless very a lot related to this problem.

I don’t know what to write down about. The place ought to I begin?

Our Scholar Opinion discussion board may also help by way of its many questions that encourage you to brainstorm each the viewers you may write to and the subjects you’d like to handle.

Can I truly ship my open letter?

You may! Simply wait till after you have got submitted your work to us to take action. (As all the time for our contests, you keep the copyright to the piece you submit, and might do no matter you want with it.)

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Questions About Judging

How will my open letter be judged?

Your work shall be learn by New York Occasions journalists, in addition to by Studying Community workers members and educators from round the USA. We’ll use this rubric to evaluate entries.

What’s the “prize”?

Having your work revealed on The Studying Community.

When will the winners be introduced?

About 8-10 weeks after the competition has closed.

My piece wasn’t chosen as a winner. Are you able to inform me why?

We sometimes obtain 1000’s of entries for our contests, so sadly, our workforce doesn’t have the capability to offer particular person suggestions on every scholar’s work.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RULES

Who’s eligible to take part on this contest?

This contest is open to college students ages 13 to 19 who’re in center faculty or highschool all over the world. School college students can’t submit an entry. Nonetheless, highschool college students (together with highschool postgraduate college students) who’re taking a number of faculty lessons can take part. College students attending their first yr of a two-year CEGEP in Quebec Province may also take part. As well as, college students age 19 or underneath who’ve accomplished highschool however are taking a niche yr or are in any other case not enrolled in faculty can take part.

The youngsters and stepchildren of New York Occasions staff aren’t eligible to enter this contest. Nor are college students who stay in the identical family as these staff.

Can I’ve another person test my work?

We perceive that college students will typically revise their work based mostly on suggestions from academics and friends. That’s allowed for this contest. Nonetheless, make sure that the ultimate submission displays the concepts, voice and writing skill of the scholar, not another person.

Do I would like a Works Cited web page?

Sure. We offer you a separate discipline to record the sources you used to tell or write your open letter. You’re allowed to format your record nevertheless you need; we won’t choose your entry based mostly on formatting on this part. Inner citations in your letter aren’t obligatory.

Why are you asking for an Artist’s Assertion about our course of? What’s going to you do with it?

All of us who work on The Studying Community are former academics. One of many many issues we miss, now that we work in a newsroom somewhat than a classroom, is with the ability to see how college students are reacting to our “assignments” in actual time — and to supply assist, or tweaks, to make these assignments higher. We’re asking you to mirror on what you probably did and why, and what was laborious or simple about it, largely in order that we are able to enhance our contests and the curriculum we create to assist them.

One more reason? We’ve heard from many academics that writing these statements is immensely useful to college students. Stepping again from a bit and making an attempt to place into phrases what you wished to precise, and why and the way you made creative selections to try this, may also help you see your piece anew and determine the best way to make it stronger. For our workers, they provide vital context that assist us perceive particular person college students and submissions, and study extra in regards to the situations underneath which college students all over the world create.

Whom can I contact if I’ve questions on this contest or am having points submitting my entry?

Go away a touch upon this publish or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST

Do my college students want a New York Occasions subscription to entry these assets?

No. The entire assets on The Studying Community are free.

In case your college students don’t have a subscription to The New York Occasions, they’ll additionally get entry to Occasions items by way of The Studying Community. All of the actions for college kids on our website, together with mentor texts and writing prompts, plus the Occasions articles they hyperlink to, are free. College students can seek for articles utilizing the search instrument on our house web page.

How do my college students show to me that they entered this contest?

After they press “Submit” on the shape beneath, they are going to see a “Thanks in your submission.” line seem. They’ll take a screenshot of this message. Please word: Our system doesn’t presently ship affirmation emails.

Submission Kind

Please learn the next rigorously earlier than you submit:

• College students who’re 13 and older in the USA or the UK, or 16 and older elsewhere on the planet, can submit their very own entries. Those that are 13 to fifteen and stay exterior the USA or the UK should have an grownup submit the entry (push the “Submit” button) on their behalf. We’ve this rule as a result of in some international locations youngsters underneath age 16 can’t legally conform to the phrases on the backside of the submission kind.

• All college students who’re underneath 18 should present a dad or mum or guardian’s permission to enter. The permission is a part of the submission kind beneath.

• You’ll not obtain electronic mail affirmation of your submission. After you submit, you will notice the message “Thanks in your submission.” Which means we acquired your entry. If you happen to want proof of entry in your instructor, please take a screenshot of that message.