Competitions · Humanities and writing · NYT Summer Reading Contest
The New York Times Summer Reading Contest.
Ten weeks, ten chances, 250 words each time, and one question: what interested you most in the Times this week, and why. Free - but outside the US, Canada and the UK you have to be sixteen.
Read this first
The age limit depends on where you live.
This is the fact families miss, and it is not a formality. A fourteen-year-old in London can enter; a fourteen-year-old in Shanghai cannot.
US, Canada and UK - from 13
Students in those three countries may enter from the age of 13 through to 19.
Everywhere else - from 16
Entrants in every other region must be 16 to 19. That is a three-year difference and it is stated once, in the eligibility section.
Which changes when to plan for it
For a student in China this is a sixth-form activity, not a lower-secondary one. Two summers, not five.
And one exclusion applies everywhere
Immediate family of New York Times staff may not enter.
At a glance
How the ten weeks work.
The Times has run this every summer since 2010. It asks the same question every week for ten weeks, and outstanding responses are published on the Times site under the student’s name.
- Who can enter
- Ages 13 to 19 in the US, Canada and the UK. Ages 16 to 19 everywhere else
- Cost
- Free
- When
- Early June to mid-August
- The question
- What interested you most in the Times this week, and why - posted at the top of the site each Friday
- How often
- Once a week. One submission per person per week
- How many weeks
- Ten consecutive weeks, so ten chances
- Length
- No more than 1,500 characters - about 250 to 300 words
- What you must include
- The complete link, or the full title, of the piece in the Times you chose
- After submitting
- You can generate a link to your own submitted answer
- What winners get
- Publication on the Times website with a byline
What the judges actually want
The topic is not the point.
The Times says this directly, and it is the most useful piece of guidance available for this contest.
Any subject will do
The organisers state plainly that the subject does not matter, and that whether you loved it or hated it does not matter either.
What matters is why you chose it
The response is judged on what you have to say about your reasons for picking that piece. That is a much more personal question than it first appears.
So a small honest reason beats a large borrowed one
A genuine connection between the article and something the student actually thinks about does more than an attempt to sound serious about a serious topic.
And 250 words is not room for a summary
Students who spend half the entry describing the article have used half the entry saying nothing about themselves.
Ten chances
The structure is the opportunity.
Very few competitions let a student try ten times in one season. This one is built that way, and it changes how to approach it.
One entry per week, ten weeks
You cannot submit twice in a week, and you cannot bank entries. The pace is fixed at one short piece every seven days.
Which makes it a habit, not an event
Reading a newspaper properly once a week for ten weeks, and writing 250 words about it, is a better English exercise than most courses.
And the cost of a weak week is nothing
Ten independent submissions means no single entry carries the season. That is a genuinely low-pressure way into international competition.
So enter every week
The most common mistake is entering twice, getting nothing, and stopping. The students who get published are usually the ones still submitting in August.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares a Summer Reading entry.
Ten weeks of short writing rewards preparation that most students never do: learning to read the paper.
Reading beyond the front page
Students who only look at the headlines write about the same three stories as everybody else. The Times publishes recipes, obituaries, science reporting, criticism and photo essays, and the unusual choice is often the stronger entry.
Writing 250 words that are mostly about you
Name the piece, then spend the rest on the reason. Practising that proportion is most of the skill.
Building the weekly habit before June
A student who has been reading and responding for a few weeks before the contest opens starts week one already fluent.
And checking eligibility first
Outside the US, Canada and the UK the floor is 16. Confirm before building a summer around it.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for NYT Summer Reading Contest 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 NYT Summer Reading Contest 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 NYT Summer Reading Contest 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.
NYT Summer Reading Contest
- 2021An Honourable Mention
Earlier years
- 20202 Honourable Mentions
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 NYT Summer Reading Contest, 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 Summer Reading Contest, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
How old do I have to be?
13 to 19 in the US, Canada and the UK. Everywhere else the range is 16 to 19. This is the difference that most often catches families out.
Does it cost anything?
No. The contest is free.
What is the question?
The same one every week: what interested you most in the Times this week, and why. It is posted at the top of the site each Friday.
How long can my answer be?
No more than 1,500 characters, which is roughly 250 to 300 words.
How many times can I enter?
Once a week, for ten consecutive weeks. You cannot submit more than one response in a week.
What do I have to include?
The complete link, or the full title, of the piece in the Times you are writing about. After submitting you can generate a link to your own answer.
Does the topic I choose matter?
The organisers say it does not, and that whether you loved or hated the piece does not matter either. What they care about is what you have to say about why you chose it.
What do winners receive?
Publication on the New York Times website, with their name on it.
When does it run?
From early June to mid-August each year.
Is there a video option?
Our page for the wider Times contest series lists a 90-second video as an accepted format for this contest, while the contest’s own description covers only the written entry. Check the current rules before recording anything.
Related
The rest of the series, and other writing competitions.
What students enter alongside this one.
Summer Reading enquiries
Ten weeks, and the topic does not matter.
This is the gentlest entry into international competition on the site - free, short, and ten independent attempts. Check the age rule for your region first, then treat it as a summer habit rather than a competition.