Welcome to Week Four of our 13th Annual Summer Reading Contest.
This contest is open to students 11-19 from anywhere in the world. To participate, submit a response by 9 a.m. Eastern on July 8 that answers the questions “What got your attention in The New York Times this week? Why?”
If you are 13 or older and live in the United States, or 16 or older from anywhere else in the world, post your response in the comment section. If you are a teacher, parent or guardian and your kids or students are 11-12 years old and live in the United States, or 11-15 and live in another country, see the bottom of this post for details on how to submit.
Responses must be 1,500 characters — about 250 words — or fewer.
What should you choose? Well, as you know from the rules we’ve posted, you can pick anything published on nytimes.com in 2022, including articles, essays, videos, photos, podcasts or infographics.
So what did you read, watch or listen to this week? Maybe you were consumed by front-page headlines about the tragic deaths of over 40 migrants found in a tractor-trailer on the outskirts of San Antonio, the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup in hockey, and new Supreme Court rulings on prayer in public schools, environmental regulations, immigration policy and abortion — or maybe you were more taken with stories about product placement in television, the role of smell in picking friends, American Girl doll jokes or the new Minions movie. We don’t care what you choose, we just want to hear why you chose it.
We hope you’ll click around nytimes.com and find your own great articles, features and multimedia. But we also know that not everyone who participates has a Times subscription. Because all links to Times content from the student features on our site are free, every week we’ll try to help by posting interesting pieces from a variety of sections.
For example, this week you may have read front-page news articles like …
1955 Arrest Warrant in Emmett Till Case Is Found in Court Basement
Or, maybe you discovered stories in the Style, International, Sports, Business, Magazine, Arts, U.S., Travel, Science, Health or Smarter Living sections like …
Experts Say We Have the Tools to Fight Addiction. So Why Are More Americans Overdosing Than Ever?
Vacationing 101 for Those Who Have Forgotten How
Democrats Need Patriotism Now More Than Ever
How I Build a Good Day When I’m Full of Despair at the World
Cassidy Hutchinson Changes Everything
What’s the Plan for the Tampon Shortage?
Can You Blame Countries Like Mine for Turning to China?
Technology and the Triumph of Pessimism
California’s Fight Against Homelessness Has Turned Desperate and Dangerous
Growing Up in the Shadow of DACA
Resisting the Worst of the Web Is Not Futile
Whatever caught your eye, tell us about it.
Need more details? The contest rules are all here, and you can read the work of last year’s winners here. A quick overview, though:
You can choose from anything published in the print paper or on nytimes.com in 2022, including videos, podcasts, graphics and photographs. (In your response, please include the URL or headline of the piece you pick.)
We’ll post this question each Friday from today through Aug. 12, and you’ll have until the next Friday morning to respond with your picks. Then we’ll close that post and open a new one with the same question.
We’ll choose at least one favorite answer to feature on our site each week. Winners from this week will be announced on Tuesday, July 19.
Feel free to participate each week, but we allow only one submission per person per week.
The contest is open to students ages 11 to 19 from anywhere in the world. If you are 13 or older and live in the United States, or 16 or older from anywhere else in the world, post your response in the comments section. If you are a teacher, parent or guardian of a student or child who is between the ages of 11 and 12 and live in the United States, or 11 and 15 and live in another country, then you must submit an entry on the student’s behalf using the form below. All entries from the comments section and the form below will be judged together.
