Competitions · Humanities and writing · The New York Times student contests
The New York Times student contests.
Seven contests across the year, all free, and the shortest asks for under a hundred words. If a student writes, photographs, records or argues, one of these windows is open in the next two months.
The year
Seven windows, and they do not overlap.
The Times runs its contests in sequence rather than all at once, which means a student can enter several across a year without ever having two deadlines at the same time. Windows shift slightly each year - check the current dates.
| Contest | Window | What you submit |
|---|---|---|
| Multimedia for teens and educators | September to late October | Text, a photograph, audio or video, plus a short artist’s statement. May be made alone or with others, including teachers and students at other schools |
| Personal Narrative | Late October to early December | An unpublished piece of under 100 words, excluding the title - a very short memoir of a meaningful experience |
| Community Photo | Early December to mid-January | Six to eight photographs with captions and a short introduction, showing some aspect of life where you live |
| Student Review | Mid-January to mid-February | Up to 600 words excluding the title, reviewing a book, film, restaurant, album, play, video game, dance piece, television programme or art exhibition |
| Open Letter editorial writing | Late February to early April | Up to 500 words excluding the title - a letter of protest or appeal to someone who could change something that matters to you |
| Podcast | Early April to mid-May | An original podcast of no more than five minutes, on any subject and in any style |
| Summer Reading | Early June to mid-August | Weekly, for ten weeks: what interested you most in the Times this week, and why - in under 1,500 characters or a 90-second video |
A weekly Current Events Conversation challenge also runs all year round, alongside the seven main contests.
Why these are worth entering
Low cost, low risk, real publication.
These contests suit students who would never enter a competition, which is most of the reason to know about them.
They are free
No entry fee for any contest in the series. The only cost is the time to make the thing.
And several are very short
Under a hundred words for the personal narrative. Five hundred for the open letter. Six hundred for the review. These are evening projects, not year-long ones.
The outcome is publication with a byline
Winning work is published on the Times site under the student’s name, and some appears in print. That is a different object from a certificate.
And they are not only for writers
Photography, audio and video all have their own contests. A student who works in images or sound has a window here just as much as one who writes essays.
At a glance
The essentials.
The Times refreshes its student contest line-up each year so the exact contests change. What follows holds across the series.
- Who can enter
- Secondary students worldwide. The individual contests give 13 to 19, while the series introduction says 11 to 19 - confirm for a younger student
- Cost
- Free
- Language
- English
- Work must be unpublished
- Stated for the personal narrative contest and worth assuming across the series
- Collaboration
- Permitted in the multimedia contest, including with teachers and with students at other schools. Most of the others are individual
- What winners receive
- Publication on the Times website, and sometimes in the print edition
- Excluded
- Immediate family of New York Times staff
- The line-up changes
- The Times adjusts the contests each summer, so a contest that ran last year may not run this year
Which one to enter
Match the contest to what the student already does.
The series covers enough ground that the right question is not whether to enter but which one - and the answer is usually obvious.
If they write about themselves - Personal Narrative
Under a hundred words about one meaningful moment. No set theme and no required style. The constraint does the teaching.
If they have opinions - Open Letter or Review
Five hundred words of argument aimed at someone who could act, or six hundred words on a book, film, album or exhibition. Both reward a clear position.
If they work in images - Community Photo
Six to eight photographs with captions, showing something about where they live. A photo essay rather than single images.
If they talk - Podcast
Five minutes, any subject, any format. The Times advises choosing something narrow enough to do justice to - food waste in your neighbourhood rather than climate change.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares a Times contest entry.
These are short pieces judged by editors. Almost everything that matters happens in the cutting.
Writing to a hundred words, or five hundred
These are the tightest limits of any writing competition on this site. A student who can say one thing well in a hundred words has learned something a two-thousand-word essay cannot teach.
Reading the winners first
The Times publishes past winning entries. For contests this short, reading twenty of them is the fastest possible calibration of what gets picked.
Using the sequence
The windows do not overlap, so a student can enter three or four across one year without ever having two deadlines at once. Planning the year is genuinely easy here.
And treating each as its own form
A review is not an essay, an open letter is not an opinion piece, and a photo essay is not eight good photographs. Each has conventions worth learning before starting.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for The New York Times student contests at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for The New York Times student contests is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past questions and writing pack
The same material our own The New York Times student contests students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFEvery past question the competition has set
- PDFShortlisted and published essays, to calibrate the standard
- PDFStructure, referencing and word-count guide
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Lu
Master's in education from the University of Pennsylvania and a double major in psychology and philosophy at Mount Holyoke. Cross-cultural teaching experience across China and the US, with research work in child and adolescent development, cognition, and international students' identity.
Yang
Educated at American Heritage School, then English literature and philosophy at the University of British Columbia and a master's in language education at Toronto. Eleven years in North America, with a close working knowledge of the international curricula and overseas admissions.
Zhang
Master's in cognitive science at UC San Diego on full scholarship, after double honours in neurobiology and behaviour and in cognitive science at UC Davis. Ten years overseas, a perfect TOEFL speaking score, and named an outstanding education scholar at UCSD.
Student results
What Hanlin students got.
Taken from Hanlin's published record of student honours and rewritten in English. Figures are as the organisers reported them.
The New York Times student contests
- 2020In the editorial contest, one Finalist and 2 Honourable Mentions
Earlier years
- 2019An Honourable Mention in the review-writing contest
The full record, across every subject and year, is on the student honours page.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for The New York Times student contests, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
The Times contests, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Do they cost anything?
No. Every contest in the series is free to enter.
Who can enter?
Secondary students worldwide. The individual contests state 13 to 19, while the series introduction gives 11 to 19 - confirm with the Times if the student is under 13. Immediate family of New York Times staff cannot enter.
How many contests are there?
Seven main contests across the year, plus a weekly Current Events Conversation challenge that runs all year round. The line-up is refreshed each summer.
When do they run?
Multimedia from September to late October, Personal Narrative to early December, Community Photo to mid-January, Student Review to mid-February, Open Letter from late February to early April, Podcast to mid-May, and Summer Reading from early June to mid-August.
How long can entries be?
It varies by contest and the limits are short: under 100 words for the personal narrative, up to 500 for the open letter, up to 600 for the review, five minutes for a podcast, and under 1,500 characters for a summer reading entry.
Can I work with someone else?
In the multimedia contest, yes - with classmates, teachers, or even students and teachers at other schools. Most of the others are individual.
What do winners receive?
Publication on the Times website under their own name, and sometimes in the print edition. No entry fee and no prize money is described.
Are these only for students who write?
No. Photography, audio and video each have their own contest, so a student who works in images or sound has an equal route in.
Can I enter more than one?
Yes. The windows run in sequence rather than overlapping, so a student can enter several across a year without ever facing two deadlines at once.
Does the line-up stay the same each year?
No. The Times adjusts its contests each summer, so check the current list before planning around a particular one.
Related
Other writing competitions.
What students enter alongside the Times contests.
Times contests enquiries
Free, short, and one window is always about to open.
The seven contests run in sequence and cover writing, photography, audio and video, so almost any student has a route in without paying anything. Tell us what the student makes and an advisor will point at the next window.