K–12 students are invited to make their voices heard this fall by writing a letter to a local elected representative that explains a global issue they want the person to prioritize, explains how it connects to their local community, and proposes a solution.
Through the Pulitzer Center’s Writing Contest, students can practice global citizenship, civic action, and persuasive writing, all while exploring the underreported issues that matter to them through Pulitzer Center news stories.
The Pulitzer Center welcomes entries from all current K–12 students across the globe. The letters may be written in English and/or Spanish and should address a topic within one of the Pulitzer Center’s five focus issues: Climate and Environment (climate change, pollution, extractive industries, and more); Global Health (health inequities, food security, mental health, water and sanitation, and more); Human Rights (racial justice, gender equality, migration and refugees, Indigenous rights, and more); Information and Artificial Intelligence (technology and society, misinformation, and more); and Peace and Conflict.
Students in the United States can look up their congressional representative using their zip code at the contest site. They can write to this person for the contest or to a different elected representative, such as a school board member, city council member, or attorney general. They should consider who has the power to implement the solution they are suggesting and search for that person’s name and contact information online.
The Pulitzer Center will select one first-place winner and up to four finalists for each issue category. The first-place winners will each receive $300 to support global community engagement in their classroom. The finalists will each receive $75 to support global community engagement in their classroom. (The cash awards will be distributed to students’ teachers.) In addition, the first-place winners’ and finalists’ letters, photos, and bios will be published on the Pulitzer Center website.
All entrants will be invited to participate in a virtual Pulitzer Center town hall event to share their solutions with other students from around the world.
The deadline for entries is November 15, 2024, at 11:59 pm EST.