Winners
In a video, Saanvi Kondoju, 16, from Middleton, Wis., responded to an essay from the Letter of Recommendation column headlined “No One Ever Said My Name Right. Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić Fixed That.”
William Alexis, 16, from Atlanta, chose a transcript of an episode of The Opinions podcast titled “My Gay Son Changed My Understanding of Evangelical Christianity,” and wrote:
Certain things show up in your feed when you’re not ready, but you are. That’s how it felt when I saw the headline: “My Gay Son Changed My Understanding of Evangelical Christianity.”
I read it in my bedroom, fan clicking, a storm sliding in from Alabama. The story was about a pastor and his son, but it kept turning into a mirror. I know that small-town church air, the kind that smells like coffee in styrofoam cups and certainty that doesn’t bend. I know the sermons where sin lists get recited like grocery items, and I know where my name lands in them.
The father in the piece wrote about watching his beliefs split apart, how love took a sledgehammer to the frame and made him start again. I’ve never seen my own father cry about me, not in that way, but I’ve imagined it: his eyes shut tight, a prayer fighting its way out, the moment before a choice.
Sometimes I think about what it would take for him to say the words this pastor eventually did, to see me not as something God forgot to fix, but as something God got right the first time. The thought feels dangerous, like touching an open flame. It also feels warm.
I didn’t expect an article to leave me staring at my ceiling, wondering if people can really change. But this one did. And now, tucked somewhere between hope and self-preservation, I’m holding space for the idea that love could break through here, too.
Runners-Up
Adam J. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Ananya A. on “Trump Is Winning His Trade War. What Will That Mean for the Economy?”
Aritro C. on “He Read (at Least) 3,599 Books in His Lifetime. Now Anyone Can See His List.”
Chelsea G. on “Love Letters”
Diep N. on “Is Pilates Political?”
Henry Hudson on “Finding Beauty — In a Constellation of Spiderwebs”
Isabel Amat on “Trump Administration to Require Universities to Submit Data on Applicants’ Race”
Jaeyong P. on “A.I. Griefbots Are Just Our Latest Attempt to Talk to the Dead”
Jiyou Lee on “How to Do a Perfect Plank”
Natalie K. on “FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show”
Nguyễn Tăng Hiền Nhân on “Always Late? Blame Your Time Personality.”
Nina P. on “Comfort Viewing”
Rainie G. on “Plastic Turf Fields Are Taking Over America”
Saeeun J. on “Saving for College Once Felt Essential. Some Parents Are Rethinking Their Plans.”
Samya Madhukar on “L.A. Firefighters Who Fought Blazes Show Elevated Mercury and Lead Levels”
Seeun L. on “No One Ever Said My Name Right. Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić Fixed That.”
Serena F. on “What Would a Real Friendship With A.I. Look Like? Maybe Like Hers.”
Lilian L. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Xinyue H. on “No One Ever Said My Name Right. Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić Fixed That.”
Xiyuan Z. on “Last Soldiers of an Imperial Army Have a Warning for Young Generations”
Xiyue H. on “Why Tot Celebrity Ms. Rachel Waded Into the Gaza Debate”
Honorable Mentions
Aayan B. on “Inside a Gathering of America’s Growing Home-School Movement”
Aiden K. on “Always Late? Blame Your Time Personality.”
Annie Z. on “Plastic Turf Fields Are Taking Over America”
Anthony on “Always Late? Blame Your Time Personality.”
Avery K. on “Thinking Is Becoming a Luxury Good”
Cindy on “The Best Advice I’ve Ever Heard for How to Be Happy”
Claire Y. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Eugene H. on “Why Does Every Summer Need to Be the Summer ‘of’ Something?”
Evalyn on “Donations to NPR and PBS Stations Surge After Funding Cuts”
Garrett H. on “How Did Hunger Get So Much Worse in Gaza?”
Hannah L. on “What We Know About the Shooting in Midtown Manhattan”
Helen Z. on “How to Talk to Your Children About Money in These Uncertain Times”
Irene G. on “A Scramble for a Woman, 77, Who Lost Her ‘Forever’ Apartment”
Jayne K. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Jinlin Y. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Khanak on “Always Late? Blame Your Time Personality.”
Krish on “You Are Contaminated”
Rayhana L. on “Do These Jeans Make My Ad Look Racist?”
Shi Yi Y. on “Can You Love a Stranger?”
Sophia (Yanmingrui) Wan on “The Summer Job, a Rite of Passage for Teens, May Be Fading Away”
Weixuan Lai on “An Era of Authenticity (or Something Like It)”
Yi X. on “A.I. May Be the Future, but First It Has to Study Ancient Roman History”
Yongyuan (William) L. on “If I Don’t Post About My Vacation, Did It Even Happen?”
Yuxi Z. on “How to Do a Perfect Plank”
Zee-jay C. on “Anger Over Starvation in Gaza Leaves Israel Increasingly Isolated”
Zixin Y. on “As Consumers Lose Their Appetite, Food Brands Fight to Keep Wall St. Happy”
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