Winners

Vaishnavi Kothamasu, 14, Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah: “One More Word”Veronica Zhu, 16, Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas: “Language Barrier”Victoria Day, 14, Polytechnic School, Pasadena, Calif.: “Our Camellia”Violet Zimmerle, 15, Fred J. Page High School, Franklin, Tenn.: “No More Balloons”Ye Won Paek, 17, Plymouth High School, Canton, Mich.: “From Japchae to Jelly”Yuna Onishi, 14,…

What’s bothering you? Who could do something about it? What could you say to persuade that person to care or to make change? How could you make us care, too?Those are the questions we posed to teenagers for our new Open Letter Contest this spring, inviting students to write public-facing letters to people or groups…

“If You Destroy the Root, You Kill the Whole Plant” by Isaac Abraham, 16, The Hun School of Princeton, Princeton, N.J.“Inside Interviews” by Grace Chaille, 16, Canterbury High School, Fort Wayne, Ind.“Intersectionationalism: The Dual Dehumanization of Queer Refugees” by Rhys Adams, 16, Milton Academy, Milton, Mass.“Jack Martin” by Jack Martin, 15, Neenah High School, Neenah,…

Danna Ramirez, 17, Alisal High School, Salinas, Calif.: “Scorching Days and Aching Backs”Derek Jin, 17, Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, Mass.: “Change the Game”Dove Williams, 17, Ithaca High School, Ithaca, N.Y.: “ReUse: Experiments in a Circular Economy”Elaine Wang, 13, and Elsa W., American School Hong Kong, Hong Kong: “The Stories Hidden in a Car Park”Emma…

“How to Spot Counterfeit Currency”: Kaylie Milton, 17, West High School, Iowa City, Iowa“How to Pee On a Hike”: Lauren Acker, 17, Lakeside High School, DeKalb County, Ga.“How to Mimic an Accent”: Michael Noh, 14, Korea International School Pangyo Campus, Seongnam, South Korea“How to Speak Like a British Person”: Owen Wilde, 16, Maynard High School,…

Willet Cole, 13, Sussex Academy, Georgetown, Del.: “Five Nights at Freddy’s FLOP”Yuki Wen, 15, Bishop Strachan School, Toronto: “The iPhone 15: Who Needs Innovation When You Can Have Déjà Vu?”Zackary Kozak, 18, American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach Campus, Delray Beach, Fla.:“‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’: Sharing the Wealth of Words”Zijing Xin, 16, Shanghai Pinghe…

Shannon Katzenberger, 17, Lakewood High School, Lakewood, Ohio: “Strike”Shruti Ram, 17, Ridge High School, Basking Ridge, N.J.: “Places!”Simba Li, 16, Sevenoaks School, Sevenoaks, England: “Our Song”Sophia Phaugat, 17, Shikshantar Senior Secondary School, Gurugram, India: “Ghost Horses of Home in Pandora’s Box”Sophie Kalagher, 14, Jonathan Law High School, Milford, Conn.: “I’m Not Hungry”Timothy Hoksida Gabbard, 16,…

Blythe S., “Phone Calls”Chloe J., “Material Mirage: The Social Dilemma of Today’s Youth”Eduardo C., “My Brain Is a Southern Gothic Battlefield for Vampires in Tweed Suits and Teacher Rec Letters”Ela K., “chemistry class poem”Eva R., “A Day in the Life”Gabriella N., “A Life Without Music”Grant M., “This Feels Good”Hridya S., “Phone Pockets”Isabel N., “We are…

Read critical commentary by teenagers on a high school cafeteria, Breath of the Wild, Balenciaga’s new line and more.

We invited teenagers to write miniature memoirs about meaningful moments in their lives. Read the 13 winning stories.