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在过去的四年里，我们邀请学生就他们关心的问题撰写简短的社论，每年都有成千上万的人接受挑战。
学生经常从自己生活中深思熟虑的问题开始：为什么我学校的体育项目比音乐项目更有资金？为什么我们在主动射击演习时躲在教室的角落里？为什么我的同学在效忠誓言中不站起来？他们提出复杂、真诚和经过充分研究的答案作为回应。
学生们着眼于国家和世界的问题，并寻找解决方案——例如，改善中国女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者的困境，或者降低美国监狱的累犯率。
我们真的很喜欢这个比赛，因为它要求学生仔细观察他们的世界，找到他们想要改变的东西，无论大小。所以，如果你不喜欢一直排在最后，因为你的姓氏以“Z”开头，那就表明立场。如果你想让书和电影中更多的角色更像你，那就写吧。如果你想让社会少浪费或更宽容，那就告诉世界。改变始于注意、批判性思考和开始有意义的对话——这就是这些学生在社论中所做的。
但是赢得这场比赛？从 7，895 个参赛作品中被选为获胜者并非易事，创下了纪录。你如何让你的作品从提交给我们比赛的其他社论中脱颖而出——尤其是当你只有不超过450个单词来表达你的观点时？
这里有一种方法：强势起步。在前几句话中吸引我们的注意力，但不要花太长时间来陈述你的论点。
这是另一个：选择一个新的话题，或者一个流行话题的新角度，并且非常清楚你在争论什么。通常，当学生缩小特定关注点的范围时，他们的社论会变得更有说服力。
还有什么？用原始、自信的声音写作，避免公式化的语言和结构。如果适当，承认并巧妙地提出反驳。
下面，我们列出了 10 位获奖者、15 位亚军和 45 位荣誉奖。我们还包括所有决赛选手的 PDF，其中包括 58 名进入第三轮评审但未完全进入获胜者圈子的选手。
从 5 月 22 日开始，我们将在每个工作日发布 Top 10 论文之一的帖子，我们希望您在社交媒体上传播，挂在学校公告板上，甚至可能用作明年比赛的“导师文本”。
学生社论比赛获奖者
下面的每个类别都按标题的字母顺序列出了我们的最爱。在缺少标题的地方，我们想出了自己的标题。
前 10 名获奖者
“A Psychedelic Cure?” by Reagan Briere, age 16
“In Nothing We Trust” by Francesca Kelley, age 18
“Leave the Citizens to Their TV Shows” by Yijia Hu, age 17
“Losing the Internet” by David Scharts, age 15
“Reform the Prison, Then the Prisoner” by Katherine Leonard, age 16
“Stopping Bullets With Locked Doors and Silence Is Already Pulling the Trigger” by Daina Kalnina, age 15
“The Anguish of the Rich” by Yiqi Wang, age 17
“The Asian Misnomer: What the Affirmative Action Debate Misses” by Matteo Wong, age 16
“The Collateral Damage of Defending Democracy” by Sarah Heiland, age 18
“The Missing Anthropological Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History” by Alec Farber, age 16
亚军
“America First” by Safa Saleh, age 17
“America? More Like Ameri-Can’t Vote” by Gianni Carcagno, age 17
“Climate Literacy: A Critical Step Toward Climate Stability” by Ella Shriner, age 14 and Hannah Witscher, age 15
“Cultural Appropriation: A Measure of Empathy” by James Chang, age 16
“Discourse Is Democracy: Allowing Uncensored Speech on College Campuses” by Abigail Hogan, age 17
“Drone Warfare: The Failing Fight Against the Modern Hydra” by Michael Levinger, age 16
“Generation Code Red” by Grace Scullion, age 16
“Humane Human Zoo?” by Ella Ward, age 15
“Paper or Plastic? How About a Paper ON Plastic!” by Melody Markert, age 17
“The Future Disintegration of American Democracy Through Athletics” by Julianne Yu, age 16
“The Case for Teaching News Literacy” by Mary Hannah Grier, age 17
“The Unspoken Alphabet Problem” by Stephanie Zhang, age 14
“The ‘War on Drugs’ Will Never Work; Legalization Will” by Kristina Vakhman, age 18
“There Is No Happily Ever After Without Once Upon a Time” by Bridget O’Leary, age 17
“When Will This Class Be Useful?” by Casey Stark, age 15
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荣誉奖
“#WorldChanger” by Joyce Zhou, age 17
“A Case for Impassiveness” by Lea Marchl, age 16
“A Scoop in the Right Direction” by Emma S., age 18
“AP Tests Don’t Leave Enough Room for the Human Side of History” by Tom Malmgren, age 16
“Are My Shoulders Distracting You?” by Mairi Alice Dun, age 17
“Autism: Educated and Extraordinary” by Isabella Zhang, age 17
“Bittersweet” by Rena Rachlin, age 15 “Child Labor in the U.S. Today” by Jasmine Campos, age 16 and Charlotte Principal, age 16
“China Needs Silver Lining” by Wangchen Zhou, age 17
“Colleges Should Abandon Race-Based Affirmative Action to Achieve True Diversity” by Eric Davis, age 18
“Embrace the Mess” by Chi Yu, age 14
“Fast Fashion Is Destroying Our World” by Melissa Wang, age 17
“Food Stamps Need a Change” by Patrick Meara, age 17
“Governor Cuomo Frees the Plastic Bagss” by Jiayan Chen, age 17
“Help Wanted: Moderate Politicians” by Ireland Degges, age 17
“High School Should Not Just Be About Sports” by Swathi Kella, age 16
“How Far Can Post-Truth Democracy Take Us?” by Jiahe Yang, age 18
“How to Revitalize the Public Education System” by Dhara Yu, age 18
“Last Man Standing” by Kathryn Porter, age 16
“Leave Me Alone” by Celia Silver, age 17
“More Than a Morning Kick” by Emma Cary, age 16
“Multiple Choice: Not Multiple Enough” by Yi-Mei Templeman, age 17
“Picking Cotton: An Immigrant’s Perspective” by Allan Njomo, age 16
“Post-Democracy” by Nadav Ziv, age 17
“Should Juvenile Offenders Receive Life Sentences Without Parole on Their First Offense?” by Tayler Gavetti, age 16
“Should Obamacare Be Repealed?” by William Pharo, age 16
“Single Payer: A Cure for America’s Healthcare Woes” by Akshay Manglik, age 13
“Streaky Friendship” by Yuxin Long, age 16
“Technology: A Hindrance to Learning” by Zachary Weiss, age 17
“Teens, Technology, and The Pursuit of Happiness” by Sam Jagolinzer, age 17
“The Bluest Note” by Nicholas Dasoveanu, age 18
“The College Conspiracy” by Serenity W., age 17
“The Cost of Health Care May Be in Your Genes” by Sophia Lo, age 16
“The Demoralizing of the Elizabethan Language” by Olivia Seymour, age 14
“The Disposable Nightmare” by Tianxin Guo, age 14
“The Education Gap” by Adam Traweek, age 16 “The Environment in the Age of Trump” by Elliot Tuttle, age 17
“The Growing Problem of Screen Addiction” by Kaitlin Craig, age 16
“The Picture of Education We Must Change” by Danielle Naidrich, age 17
“Tipping the Pay Scale” by Ruhee Damle, age 14
“Untitled” by Melinda Hartz, age 16
“We Should Be Teaching Rap Music in Schools” by Jack Zuckerman, age 19
“What Do You Call Someone That Only Speaks One Language? An American.” by Paige Patton, age 16
“Where Are All the Rainbows?” by Storm Viridian Murray, age 17
“Where Trump’s Ban Stands Legally” by Marcus Linde, age 16
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评委: Amanda Christy Brown, Shannon Doyne, Caroline Crosson Gilpin, Michael Gonchar, Annissa Hambouz, Thomas Houston, Shira Katz, Willow Lawson, Linda Leavitt, Sue Mermelstein, Anna North, Roxie Salamon-Abrams, Katherine Schulten, Matt Schwarzfeld, Natlie Shutler and Kate Spence-Ado