Pulitzer Center Update January 17, 2025
Letters for Change
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Letters for Change: The Power of Student Voices
When you learn about a problem from the news, what do you do? Being bombarded with information about intractable issues without solutions is a swift road to feeling overwhelmed.
The Pulitzer Center’s global letter-writing contests for youth make news actionable. We offer young people a framework for identifying the root issues in a story, connecting those issues to their local context, and proposing steps that local leaders can take to create sustainable change.
This year, some 1,900 students in over 40 countries, 26 U.S. states, and the District of Columbia leveraged Pulitzer Center-supported stories to advocate for change in their communities. Today, we are excited to share with you the winners’ work! These letters demonstrate the power of journalism to inspire informed action. They also introduce powerful young voices envisioning a better future, and the path we can forge to realize it. For example:
- South Carolina sixth-grader Aydin Soner lays out a four-part plan for reducing pregnancy-related deaths, informed by Herbert L. White’s and Kylie Marsh’s reporting on Black maternal mortality.
- Virginia 12th-grader Aaron Lau calls for greater oversight and transparency related to civilian casualties of U.S. airstrikes, drawing on Nick Turse’s investigative work on the issue.
- Texas 10th-grader Katie Ma argues that quality media literacy education is essential to combating AI-exacerbated misinformation that, as Lori Hinnant reports, can stoke fear and undermine trust in journalism and democratic governance.
You can read all Local Letters for Global Change winning entries (in English), announced today, at this link. Visit this page to read winning entries from the Letter Contest for Our Forests and Ocean (in Spanish).
The impact of students’ writing and learning extends beyond the page. Prize winners will use their funds to contribute to civic engagement and global education in their communities. Moreover, their words catch the attention of those in power: Juliana Zatarim, a 15-year-old winner in the Letters for Our Forests and Ocean contest, received republication and appreciation from Brazil’s minister of the environment and climate change, who outlined steps the government is taking to address Zatarim’s concerns on coastal mangrove conservation.
We invite you to explore the winning letters to learn more about these young changemakers’ visions for a better world, and to take inspiration from their calls to action.
With care,

Impact
The final two webinars of The 1619 Impact Series concluded the Pulitzer Center’s celebration of the fifth anniversary of The 1619 Project. These sessions highlighted innovative strategies for teaching the legacy of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans to U.S. society, empowering educators to create transformative learning experiences. Educators shared approaches such as centering joy through narratives of resilience and fostering connections between students' identities and historical content. By prioritizing empathy, inclusion, and engagement, these webinars demonstrated how teaching difficult histories can inspire pride, agency, and meaningful connections to historical content among students.
Read the full update here.
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This message first appeared in the January 17, 2025, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter. Subscribe today.
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