Annual

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 70,000 have done so.If you are looking for ways to offer students more “voice and choice,” we hope our open-ended contest can help. Every week, we ask…

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,…

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…

Simran Kannughatta chose to make a 15-second vocabulary video about the word “erroneous” — one of our top 11 winners from last year. Do you love the magic of words? Do you enjoy showing off your vocabulary — or finding new ways to expand it? And do you appreciate brevity — keeping things short and…

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…

However, this English obsession is not without reason. According to a 2013 report, individuals who speak English fluently earn 34 percent more than those who cannot. English is essential in today’s globalized work force, but language acquisition should be accumulative, not subtractive. Research shows that high mother tongue proficiency makes learning a second language easier…

We invited teenagers to create an original five-minute podcast about almost anything. Listen to some of the winning podcasts selected from over 1,600 submissions.

And, too, at a time when some educators are alarmed by the ability of chatbots to do students’ work for them, this is a contest that rewards the human touch. As our step-by-step guide to participating shows, what we’re looking for are genuine personal connections to the news, explored with voice, style and personality —…

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…

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…