父母的疾病。初恋。一个新朋友。青少年关于有意义的生活时刻的七篇简短而有力的文章。
信用。。。插图：梅琳达·乔西
信用。。。插图：梅琳达·乔西
信用。。。插图：梅琳达·乔西
十月份，我们邀请学生为我们的第二届年度个人叙事写作比赛提交关于有意义的生活经历的简短而有力的故事。三个月后，60 位评委和近 9，000 份参赛作品，我们选出了 7 名获奖者，以及另外 130 名决赛选手，他们以精湛的故事讲述、动人的信息和艺术的语言使用脱颖而出。
这些600字的文章让我们得以一窥青少年的生活以及塑造他们的时刻：来自母亲祖国的一顿饭;父亲的绝症;性侵犯;意想不到的初恋。
虽然这些文章因其独特性而打动了我们，但在它们背后，几乎任何人、任何地方都可以与之相关的故事——关于家庭和归属感的故事，关于主张自己的身份，关于重新看待世界（和自己）的故事，关于在死亡面前珍惜生命的故事。
下面，我们将完整发布七个获奖故事。我们希望，像我们的评委一样，你会钦佩他们用生动的细节和声音吸引读者注意力的方式，以及他们如何不仅教会我们一些关于写这些东西的青少年，而且关于为我们的生活带来意义的大大小小的时刻。
滚动到这篇文章的底部，查看我们表彰的所有学生的名字——7 名获奖者、13 名亚军、22 名荣誉奖和 95 名第 4 轮决赛选手。恭喜我们所有的决赛入围者，并感谢所有参与的人！
（学生注意：我们已经公布了我们获得许可的学生的姓名、年龄和学校。如果您希望发表您的文章，请写信给我们 LNFeedback@nytimes.com。
获奖论文
Contraband
Peach Pie
The Bottom of a Swimming Pool
Pink Paper Gowns
A Friday Afternoon in Spring
Perfectly Pan-Fried Tofu
Love at First Offhand Compliment
优胜者
按作者姓氏的字母顺序排列。
“Love at First Offhand Compliment” by Leah Gomez
age 17, Saint Mary’s Hall, San Antonio, Tex.
“The Bottom of a Swimming Pool” by Annie Johnson
age 15, Dublin Coffman High School, Dublin, Ohio
“Contraband” by Yana Johnson
age 14, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, S.C.
“Perfectly Pan-Fried Tofu” by Charis June Lee
age 16, West Springfield High School, Springfield, Va.
“A Friday Afternoon in Spring” by Madeleine Luntley
age 17, Webber Academy, Calgary, Alberta
“Pink Paper Gowns” by Katin Sarner
age 18, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.
“Peach Pie” by Elisabeth Stewart
age 15, College Station High School, College Station, Tex.
亚军
“Mourning Dirt” by Yuan Gao
age 17, Nanjing Foreign Language School, Nanjing, China
“Crows by the Beach” by Huda Haque
age 17, Panther Creek High School, Cary, N.C.
“Potato Salad” by Connie Jiang
age 15, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, Calif.
“Trembling Confidence” by Aarti Kalamangalam
age 16, Eastside High School, Gainesville, Fla.
“What’s My Name?” by Yeheun Kim
age 17, Penn Foster High School, Scranton, Penn.
“Fish Eyes” by Naomi Ling
age 15, River Hill High School, Clarksville, Md.
“Abigail Adams: The Second First Lady of America and the First Lady of My Heart” by Elly Pickette
age 17, Winsor School, Boston
“That’s the Thing — I Don’t Remember” by Anna Popnikolova
age 13, Nantucket High School, Nantucket, Mass.
“Self-Reliance” by K.R.
age 17, Mount Desert Island High School, Mount Desert, Me.
“Homecoming” by Charlotte Rediker
age 16, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
“Blame It on Me” by Daphne Wang
age 14, Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, Calif.
“BLOOM” by Paxton Woodard
age 15, Jasper Place High School, Edmonton, Alberta
“Don’t Apologize”
荣誉奖
“شكرا — Thank You” by Sarah Alamir
age 16, Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale, Ill.
“Authentically Korean” by Lucy Alejandro
age 17, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.
“Cows and Bullets” by Aylin Miranda
age 17, Granite Hills High School, El Cajon, Calif.
“Autumn in New York” by Emeline Blohm
age 17, Brooklyn Technical High School, New York, N.Y.
“The New Normal” by Peyton Burton
age 16, Windermere High School, Windermere, Fla.
“Three Strikes And You’re Out” by Hannah Chen
Age 16, Singapore American School, Singapore
“Connection Found” by Sonia Cherian
Age 15, Castilleja School, Palo Alto, Calif.
“Child’s Play” by Maggie Craig
Age 16, South Forsyth High School, Cumming, Ga.
“My New Shoes” by Said El Kadi
Age 16, American Community School At Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
“Roadkill” by Isabella Fan
Age 17, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Md.
“How to Eat Lunch at School (Except You Have No Friends)” by Finley
“A Funeral to Remember” by Korbin Kane
age 17, Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering and Science, Layton, Utah
“I Just Wanted Some Tea” by Sujin Kim
age 16, Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, Conn.
“Chocolate Towers” by Niko Malouf
age 15, Grover Cleveland Charter High School, Reseda, Calif.
“Growth” by Asher Mehr
age 16, de Toledo High School, Los Angeles
“Do Not Underestimate a Jellyfish” by Eleanor Mills
age 18, Pioneer High School, Ann Arbor, Mich.
“June” by Jacqueline Munis
age 17, Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, Penn.
“Jump Roping” by Cloris Shi
age 13, Jeffrey Trail Middle School, Irvine, Calif.
“Up There in the Sky” by Olivia Theaker
age 16, Arroyo Grande High School, Arroyo Grande, Calif.
“The Young Boy And The Sea” by Gabriel Thomas
age 14, Brookline High School, Brookline, Mass.
“Perpetual Worry and Other Afflictions” by Sakshi Umrotkar
age 16, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, Calif.
“Flash” by Qi Wu
age 18, Nanjing Foreign Language School, Nanjing, China
第四轮决赛入围者
感谢我们所有的比赛评委！
Eria Ayisi, Edward Bohan, Elda Cantú, Julia Carmel, Elaine Chen, Nancy Coleman, Nicole Daniels, Sarah Deming, Shannon Doyne, Alexandra Eaton, Jeremy Engle, Tracy Evans, Arden Evers, Kyelee Fitts, Vivian Giang, Caroline Crosson Gilpin, Michael Gonchar, Emma Grillo, Jenny Gross, Kari Haskell, Julia Heavey, Michaella Heavey, Kimberly Hintz, Callie Holterman, Sharilyn Hufford, Jeremy Hyler, Lauren Jackson, Susan Josephs, Sophia June, Shira Katz, Megan Leder, Miya Lee, Lisa Letostak, Alice Liang, Emmett Lindner, Kathleen Massara, Keith Meatto, Sue Mermelstein, Claire Miller, Tara Murphy, Amelia Nierenberg, John Otis, Rene Panozzo, Tara Parker-Pope, Ken Paul, Anna Pendleton, Raegen Pietrucha, Natalie Proulx, Steven Rocker, Kristina Samulewski, Juliettte Seive, Jesica Severson, Josh Smith, Matt Twomey, Matt Vigil, Tanya Wadhwani, Jacqueline Weitzman, Kim Wiedmeyer, Sara Wortinger and Stephanie Yemm