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Coming of Age in 2020: A Special Multimedia Contest for Teenagers in the US

102020-Coming of Age

2020 has been a year marked by numerous obstacles. NEHS encourages its members to participate in The New York Times’ contest challenging young people in the United States to share their experiences by submitting up to two multimodal expressions of their lives since January 1, 2020. Read on for more information from The New York Times.


What has 2020 been like for you?

This tumultuous year has changed us all, but perhaps no generation has been more affected than yours. Teenagers are experiencing their formative years trapped inside and missing—or reinventing—milestones while a pandemic rages, an economic collapse threatens, the 2020 election looms, school as you once knew it has ceased to exist, and civics lessons in books have shifted to “civics lessons in the streets” as young people participate in what may be the largest protest movement in US history.

We want to hear about your experiences, in whatever way you want to tell us about them—whether in words or images, audio or video. This, our first-ever multimedia contest, is essentially a challenge to document what you’re living through, and express yourself creatively on any aspect, large or small, that you think is important or interesting. For instance:

1. Maybe you already have images on your camera roll that say something meaningful or poignant or funny or profound about your life this year.

2. Maybe you’ve kept a diary or sketchbook—or texts, emails or handwritten letters—that can show what you’ve experienced.

3. Or, maybe you’d like to make something new, whether an essay, poem, song, cartoon, illustration, graph, video or podcast. We’ll accept nearly anything you can upload digitally that is your original work.

This contest ends on November 12, 2020. All submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST through the form above.

Learn more: Coming of Age in 2020: A Special Multimedia Contest for Teenagers in the US


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