Annual

Sign up now for our free Feb. 11 webinar about this year’s contest, Teaching Argumentative Writing.What makes you mad?What would you like to see change?What do you wish more people understood?Over the last seven years, tens of thousands of teenagers from around the world have answered these questions in the form of short opinion essays…

Do I need a Works Cited page?Yes. We provide you with a separate field to list the sources you used to write your essay. You’re allowed to format your list however you want; we will not judge your entry based on formatting in this section. Internal citations are not necessary.Can I have someone else check…

Below are answers to your questions about writing, judging, the rules and teaching with this contest. Please read these thoroughly and, if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, post your query in the comments or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.Questions About WritingWhat is a review?In a cultural review, a reviewer experiences a work…

What makes you mad?What would you like to see change?What do you wish more people understood?Over the last eight years, tens of thousands of teenagers from around the world have answered these questions in the form of short opinion essays submitted to our annual spring Editorial Contest.They’ve made compelling arguments on issues big and small,…

One study in 2008 was able to capture this: When given a word puzzle to solve, the participants who exercised defensive pessimism did better while under a “threat motivational state”: when they were made to imagine what could go wrong, or the consequences of doing poorly. And on the flip side, their performance actually worsened…

That day, a boy told me he liked my hair.I immediately understood this boy to be The One. He flirted with me more than he flirted with other girls, and sometimes even looked at me while I spoke. I wrote him love letters in the form of homework questions that could easily have been answered…

How do daddy longlegs grow such strange legs? Can genetically engineered bacteria help us detect buried land mines? Why does snow sometimes turn red? Can Saturn’s rings help to reveal what’s happening in the planet’s core? If you click on any of these articles, you’ll see that they are written for a general reader. Special…

How can I make my podcast stand out?We are primarily looking for thoughtful pieces with a clear beginning, middle and ending. Here are a few tips to get your podcast noticed by our judges:Choose a topic that matters to you. Not only will your passion sustain you during the creative process, but it will shine…

Please don’t forget: Every year, we have to disqualify many participants who fail to heed these three rules.3. Work alone, with a partner or in a group.4. Only one submission per student.If you submit as part of a group, you cannot enter separately as an individual.5. Your video should be no more than 15 seconds,…

This announcement is available as a one-page PDF to hang on your class bulletin board.Every year since 2010, The Learning Network has invited teenagers around the world to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists. So far, more than 80,000 have done so.If you are looking for ways to offer students more…