Winners
Chosen this week from 1,403 submissions. You can read the work of all of our winners since 2017 in this column.
Isabelle Zhang, 17, of Brooklyn, N.Y., responded in the video above to an article from the Well section headlined “How to Break Free From Your Phone.”
Ginkgo Chen, 16, of Jericho, N.Y., chose an Opinion essay titled “They Let Their Children Cross the Street, and Now They’re Felons,” and wrote:
When my parents weren’t home, I was. As the oldest sibling, I became my younger brother’s caretaker — teaching him how to microwave his lunch, how to answer the door without opening it, and how to never admit that no adult was around. I still hear the quiet hum of the fridge as we waited together. We weren’t being neglected. We were growing up.
That’s why “They Let Their Children Cross the Street and Now They’re Felons” devastated me. The Jenkinses didn’t neglect their kids. They made one impossible choice in a world with no safe ones. The line that haunted me was: “Just because parents don’t have their eyes on their kids every single second doesn’t mean they are bad parents.”
I live in a suburb where kids can’t get anywhere without a car, and parents are exhausted from endless driving. We’re told to raise independent kids, but the world is built to keep them indoors, glued to screens. Sidewalks are empty, and when a parent finally says yes and lets their child walk to a friend’s house or cross the street alone, tragedy can strike. Instead of grief, society delivers blame and punishment.
This article made me angry — not just for the Jenkinses, but for every kid stuck in this contradiction: expected to grow up but never trusted. When letting a child walk a few blocks becomes a crime, something is seriously wrong. Childhood should be about freedom and trust, not fear and punishment.
Runners-Up
Norah Mendel on “Before You Offer Advice, Ask This Question”
Aeryn B. on “Why More People in the World Are Feeling Hopeful (Except Us)”
Ashley W. on “Trump’s Cultural Revolution Is Just Getting Started”
Dung H. on “They Let Their Children Cross the Street, and Now They’re Felons”
Emma L. on “How to Pick a Good Tomato (and Salvage a Bad One)”
Hongyi L. on “A Bid to Undo a Colonial-Era Wrong Touches a People’s Old Wounds”
Isabel A. on “What Does It Mean to Be Chopped?”
Isabella C. on “Could Dementia Patients Benefit from an A.I Companion?”
Kathy Z. on “Why Dads Take Their Gay Sons to Hooters”
Kehan W. on “Trump ‘s Gaza Plan Reflects Broader Push for Annexation of Palestinian Land”
Khang L. on “North Korea’s Next Leader?”
Leticia K. on “A.I. Is Shedding Enlightenment Values”
Maxwell W. on “How Many Steps Do You Really Need in a Day?”
Minghao L. on “Last Soldiers of an Imperial Army Have a Warning for Young Generations”
Natalie L. on “Are Samosas Unhealthy? Some Indians Find Official Advice Hard to Swallow.”
Nguyễn Tăng Hiền Nhân on “Should I Be Worried About Arsenic in Rice?”
Reha Agarwal on “What to Know About the Epstein Files, a Perfect Recipe for Conspiracy Theories”
Sahana P. on “After a Week of Mediocre Economic News, Trump Wants to Fire the Messenger”
Sarah Shin on “Here’s The Science of Why You Doomscroll”
Sharbat on “‘We Hope This Is Enough’: What Was Seen on a Gaza Airdrop Mission”
Tae H. on “It’s Time for That Often Dreaded Task: Buying Back-to-School Supplies”
Tayyaba S. on “How a Soggy Spring and Hot Summer Nights Made 2025 an ‘Exceptional’ Year for Fireflies”
Teo C. on “Trump’s D.C. Police Takeover and National Guard Deployment, Explained”
Viola B. on “Public Schools Try to Sell Themselves as More Students Use Vouchers”
Vivian Z. on “The Gift of Making Yourself Disappear”
Yijia C. on “Coco Gauff Manifested a Grand Slam Title at the French Open. Or Did She?”
Zihan Z. on “A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse”
Honorable Mentions
Adam on “James A. Lovell Jr., Commander of Apollo 13, Is Dead at 97”
Allie B. on “Kids, Inc.”
Angela W. on “A Letter to the Future”
Angelina Z. on “The Gift of Making Yourself Disappear”
Chelsea P. on “How to Stop Asking ‘Are You Mad at Me?’”
Fengqi Y. on “Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle”
Grace P. on “For a Change of Pace, Try Running in the Woods”
Hongyi L. on “A Bid to Undo a Colonial-Era Wrong Touches a People’s Old Wounds”
Jack M. on “A Journey Across the New Syria”
Janie P. on “The Surprising Ways That Siblings Shape Our Lives”
Jiyou L. on “A Letter to the Future”
Joey Z. on “He Took My Story, So I Made a New One”
Kamil A. on “80 Years Ago, Nuclear Annihilation Came to Japan”
Kevin on “The World Is Letting Gaza Starve”
Kyle C. on “Congo’s Teens Brave Bombs, Rebels and Abduction to Play Hoops”
Lauren P. on “My Kids Asked for the Benson Boone Cookie. Here Is My Reply.”
Lillie R. on “My Friend’s Children Are Wearing Me Out. Can I Say Something?”
Mia L. on “How Empathy Became a Threat”
Sara R. on “A.I. Is Shedding Enlightenment Values”
Sriram S. “The Gift of Making Yourself Disappear”
Stacy H. on “A Letter to the Future”
Sumedha S. on “A Letter to the Future”
Teo K. on “My Year of Living Blurrily”
Tianle F. on “27 Kid-Approved Summer Adventures”
William C. on “This Evangelical Pastor Wants to Replace Women’s Right to Vote”
Yi (Joseph) Bai on “Do Our Dogs Have Something to Tell the World?”
Yi X. on “Do Certain Tattoos Constitute ‘Stolen Valor’?”
Yuna H. on “The Gift of Making Yourself Disappear”
Zoe on “Maybe It’s Time to Make Peace With Your Smartphone”
