The Covid-19 pandemic closed schools and canceled dances. It emptied basketball courts, theaters, recreation centers and restaurants. It sent clubs, scout troops and other groups online.
Now, many people have ventured back out into physical spaces to gather with one another once again. What does in-person “community” look like today? And what are the different ways people are creating it?
In this new contest, inspired by “Where We Are” — an immersive visual project from The New York Times that explores the various places around the world where young people come together — we’re inviting teenagers to create their own photo essays to document the local, offline communities that interest them.
Take a look at the full guidelines and related resources below to see if this is right for your students. We have also posted a student forum and a step-by-step lesson plan. Please ask any questions you have in the comments and we’ll answer you there, or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. And, consider hanging this PDF one-page announcement on your class bulletin board.
The Challenge
Using The Times’s Where We Are series as a guide, create a photo essay that documents an interesting local, offline community. Whether your grandmother’s Mah Jong club, the preteens who hang out at a nearby basketball court, or the intergenerational volunteers who walk the dogs for your neighborhood animal shelter, this community can feature people of any age, as long as it gathers in person.
We encourage you to choose a community you are not a part of for reasons we explain below, in the F.A.Q.
Whichever community you choose, however, it’ll be your job to interview and photograph them. Then, you’ll pull everything together in a visual essay, which will tell the group’s story via a short introduction and a series of captioned photographs.
Your photo essay MUST include:
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Between six and eight images, uploaded in the order in which you’d like us to view them.
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A short caption of no more than 50 words for each image that helps explain what it shows and why it is important to the story.
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A short introduction of up to 300 words that offers important background or context that complements and adds to the information in the photos and captions. You might consider the introduction the beginning of your essay, which the photos and captions will then continue. Together they will answer questions like who this community is, how it came to be, and why it matters. (Our How-To guide offers more detail about this.)
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At least one quote — embedded in either the introduction or one of the captions — from a member of the community about what makes it meaningful.
A Few Rules
In addition to the guidelines above, here are a few more details:
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You must be a student ages 13 to 19 in middle school or high school to participate, and all students must have parent or guardian permission to enter. Please see the F.A.Q. section for additional eligibility details.
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The photographs and writing you submit should be fundamentally your own — they should not be plagiarized, created by someone else or generated by artificial intelligence.
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Updated, Feb. 29: Please keep digital manipulation and postprocessing to a minimum in general. (That is, you may use editing software for minor corrections such as one might make in a darkroom — cropping, adjusting brightness, balancing colors, etc. — but please do not alter the reality of the photo in any way.)
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Your photo essay should be original for this contest. That means it should not already have been published at the time of submission, whether in a school newspaper, for another contest or anywhere else.
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Keep in mind that the work you send in should be appropriate for a Times audience — that is, something that could be published in a family newspaper (so, please, no curse words).
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You may work alone, in pairs, or in groups of up to four for this challenge, but students should submit only one entry each.
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Remember to get permission from those you photograph, and to collect their contact information. Learn more about this in the F.A.Q. below.
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You must also submit a short, informal “artist’s statement” as part of your submission, that describes your process. These statements, which will not be used to choose finalists, help us to design and refine our contests. See the F.A.Q. to learn more.
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All entries must be submitted by March 20, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time using the electronic form below.
Resources for Teachers and Students
Use these resources to help you create your photo essay:
1. The Magic of Your First Car
2. At This Mexican Restaurant, Everyone is Family
3. Where the Band Kids Are
4. In This Nigerian Market, Young Women Find a Place of Their Own
5. At Camp Naru, Nobody Is ‘an Outlier’
6. For Black Debutantes in Detroit, Cotillion Is More Than a Ball
7. At This Wrestling Academy, Indian Girls Are ‘Set Free’
8. In Seville, Spain, These Young Rappers Come Together to Turn ‘Tears Into Rhymes’
9. For a Queer Community in Los Angeles, This Public Park Is a Lifeline
10. In Guatemala, A Collective of Young Artists Finds Family Through Film
11. On a Caribbean Island, Young People Find Freedom in ‘Bike Life’
12. At This Texas Campus Ministry, ‘Inclusive Love’ Is the Mission
13. For Young Arab Americans in Michigan, the Hookah Lounge Feels like Home
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An activity sheet for understanding and analyzing the Where We Are series.
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Lessons on interviewing and taking photographs. While these two resources were originally created for our 2022 Profile Contest, each contains scores of tips from educators and Times journalists that can help students learn to interview, and to take and select compelling photographs that tell a story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to your questions about writing, judging, the rules and teaching with this contest. Please read these thoroughly and, if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, post your query in the comments or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CREATING YOUR PHOTO ESSAY
What is a photo essay? How does it differ from just a series of photos?
A photo essay tells a story through a series of images. These images work together and build on each other to explore a theme of some kind. The photo essays in the Where We Are series, for instance, focus on the themes of community and coming-of-age, but each through a different lens, as the three images published here illustrate. Together they are beautiful examples of how visual collections can investigate ideas by illuminating both the “big picture” and the tiny, telling details.
How do I choose a good subject for this?
Our Student Opinion forum can help via its many questions that encourage you to brainstorm local, offline communities of all kinds.
Can I be a member of the community I photograph?
You can, but we encourage you not to. Part of the point of this contest is to help you investigate the interesting subcultures in your area, and expand your understanding of “community” by finding out about groups you otherwise may never have known existed.
But we also think it will be easier to do the assignment as an outsider. You will be coming to the community with “fresh eyes” and relative objectivity, and will be able to notice things that insiders may be too close to see.
If you do choose to depict a community you are a part of, we ask that you do not include yourself in the photos.
I’d like to work with others to create this. How do I do that?
You can work alone, with a partner, or with up to three other people. So, for example, in a group of four, two people might act as photographers, while the other two interview community members. When you are ready to edit your material and write up what you have discovered, the interviewers could use their notes to handle the short introduction, while the photographers could edit their shots into a meaningful visual sequence, and help collaborate on the captions.
Please remember, however, that you can only have your name on one submission.
Do I need permission to photograph the people in this community?
You do. It is good journalistic practice to tell the people you are photographing why you are taking pictures of them, and to ask their permission. They should also know that, if you are a winner, their image and name may appear online.
Though you do not have to have a signed permission sheet from every participant, if you are a winner and we publish your work, we will need to be able to reach those depicted, so please get their contact information before you take their pictures. (If you are photographing young children, this is especially important. Secure a parent or guardian’s permission first.)
An important exception to this: If you are taking photos of crowds in public places, such as at a sporting event, a community meeting or a local fair, you don’t need to worry about permissions, as it would be impossible to get them from all attendees.
I don’t know where to begin! What advice do you have?
Once you’ve chosen a community to photograph, begin by introducing yourself to ensure the participants are open to your project. Then, devote a bit of time to just observing, noticing how and where the members of this group spend time, what they do together, and how they relate to each other.
When you’re ready to start documenting what you find, our step-by-step guide will help you take it from there.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT JUDGING
How will my photo essay be judged?
Your work will be read by New York Times journalists as well as by Learning Network staff members and educators from around the United States. We will use this rubric to judge entries.
What’s the prize?
Having your work published on The Learning Network and being eligible to be chosen to have your work published in the print editions of The New York Times.
When will the winners be announced?
About two months after the contest has closed.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RULES
Who is eligible to participate in this contest?
This contest is open to students ages 13 to 19 who are in middle school or high school around the world. College students cannot submit an entry. However, high school students (including high school postgraduate students) who are taking one or more college classes can participate. Students attending their first year of a two-year CEGEP in Quebec Province can also participate. In addition, students age 19 or under who have completed high school but are taking a gap year or are otherwise not enrolled in college can participate.
The children and stepchildren of New York Times employees are not eligible to enter this contest. Nor are students who live in the same household as those employees.
Why are you asking for an Artist’s Statement about our process? What will you do with it?
All of us who work on The Learning Network are former teachers. One of the many things we miss, now that we work in a newsroom rather than a classroom, is being able to see how students are reacting to our “assignments” in real time — and to offer help, or tweaks, to make those assignments better. We’re asking you to reflect on what you did and why, and what was hard or easy about it, in large part so that we can improve our contests and the curriculum we create to support them. This is especially important for new contests, like this one.
Another reason? We have heard from many teachers that writing these statements is immensely helpful to students. Stepping back from a piece and trying to put into words what you wanted to express, and why and how you made artistic choices to do that, can help you see your piece anew and figure out how to make it stronger. For our staff, they offer important context that help us understand individual students and submissions, and learn more about the conditions under which students around the world create.
Whom can I contact if I have questions about this contest or am having issues submitting my entry?
Leave a comment on this post or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST
Do my students need a New York Times subscription to access these resources?
No. Students can get free access to the entire Where We Are series through The Learning Network. (All 13 photo essays are listed above, in our Resources section.) In addition, our related student forum, activity sheet and “how to” guide are also free, as are everything they link to.
However, if you are interested in learning more about school subscriptions, visit this page.
I’m not an art teacher. Can this work for my students too?
Yes! Though this is a new contest for us, we chose it in part because the theme of “community” is such an important one in subjects across the curriculum. In fact, we hope it might inspire teachers in different curriculum areas to collaborate.
For example, students in social studies could investigate the role of community locally, learning about the history of different influential groups. An English teacher might support students as they interview and craft their introductions and photo captions, while an art teacher could offer tips for photo composition. And, of course, a journalism teacher could guide the full project, or work with other teachers to publish the most successful results in the school paper.
How do my students prove to me that they entered this contest?
After they press “Submit” on the form below, they will see a “Thank you for your submission.” line appear. They can take a screenshot of this message. Please note: Our system does not currently send confirmation emails.
Submission Form
Please read the following carefully before you submit:
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Students who are 13 and older in the United States or the United Kingdom, or 16 and older elsewhere in the world, can submit their own entries. Those who are 13 to 15 and live outside the United States or the United Kingdom must have an adult submit on their behalf.
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All students who are under 18 must provide a parent or guardian’s permission to enter.
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You will not receive email confirmation of your submission. After you submit, you will see the message “Thank you for your submission.” That means we received your entry. If you need proof of entry for your teacher, please screenshot that message.
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Here is an example of how you might submit a photo with a caption and a photographer credit (Ashley Markle is the photographer):