Lesson Plan August 16, 2023
Local Letters for Global Change: A Pulitzer Center Writing Contest
Grades:
Announcing the 2023 Pulitzer Center letter-writing contest!
K-12 students: Make your voice heard this fall by writing a letter to a local elected representative that explains the global issue you want them to prioritize, shows how it connects to your local community, and proposes a solution. Through this 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 wants to read and share your letters: tell us, and the world, what's most important to you. Read on for contest details, and then enter the contest here.
Eligibility:
We welcome entries for all current K-12 students across the globe. Letters may be written in English and/or Spanish. Students will be judged separately in high school, middle school, and elementary categories, using the same judging rubric.
Prizes:
We will select three first place winners, including one high school entry (grades 9-12), one middle school entry (grades 6-8), and one elementary entry (grades K-5). First place winners will receive:
- $100 to support global community engagement in your classroom (prize distributed to your class teacher)
- Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website
Additional finalists will be selected across all grade levels. Finalists will receive:
- Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website
Deadline:
Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 11:59pm EST
Entry Guidelines:
1. Go to www.pulitzercenter.org/stories, or the Suggested Stories tab above, and choose a news story about a global issue that matters to you.
2. Write a one-page letter to an elected representative in your community that includes the following:
I. Short summary of a global issue, citing a Pulitzer Center news story.
II. Explanation of how this global issue connects to your local community, and/or to you personally.
III. Suggestion of what action you would like your local representative to take to resolve this issue, or otherwise improve related conditions.
For support writing your letter, see the Resources for Teachers and Students tab above.
3. Use this form to enter the contest. It will request some basic personal and contact information; the name and contact information for one of your teachers; and you can copy/paste your letter directly into the form.
4. Your representatives' contact information is available online. After submitting your letter to the Pulitzer Center, please consider mailing or emailing your letter to them directly!
Judging Criteria:
Letters will be judged using this rubric. Here are some guiding questions and tips from the Pulitzer Center team:
- How can I explain this global issue and its importance to someone who is less familiar with it?
- Before arguing for a solution, your reader has to understand the issue. How can you explain it to them concisely in a way that is easy to understand, and makes its importance clear? Use the Pulitzer Center news story as a resource as you summarize, and be sure to cite your sources. Are there facts, statistics, or quotes from the story that could help you explain the issue?
- How am I connected to the global issue I am writing about?
- Most letters will respond to a news story reported from a city, state, and/or country different from their own. In your letter, share details of the news story you read, and explain how the underlying issues are connected to your own community. Are you or other members of your local community affected by the same issue? Do the actions of your community have an effect on the people and places you read about? Identify the big, systemic issues in the news story, and make it clear how they connect to you locally and/or personally.
- What solutions to this problem already exist?
- Other people are probably working on this issue in your local community and around the world. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Consider advocating for a solution that has been effective before or is already in progress. You could explain how a solution implemented elsewhere could work locally, or how the work of people/organizations active in your community could be supported.
- Who has the power to effect the change I want to see?
- Your letter will be most effective if it makes it into the hands of a person who has power to implement the solution you’re suggesting. Learn about your elected officials and decide whose office should receive your letter. For example, if you’re writing about local education issues, you might write to a member of your school board. If you want to see state-level legislation passed, your state senator or governor might be the right choice.
Support for Preparing Students for the Contest:
Please navigate to the Resources for Teachers and Students tab above to find sample letters written by past contest winners, an evaluation rubric, a presentation to introduce the contest, and more. You can also schedule a free, virtual workshop facilitated by a member of the Pulitzer Center education team by filling out this request form.
Access Materials to Write Your Letter or Facilitate a Workshop Independently:
You can find inspiration and models by exploring letters written by past contest winners. Here are the winners and finalists from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018!
If you are in the United States, you can look up your congressional representative using your zip code at this link. You are welcome to write to this person for the contest. You are also welcome to write to a different elected representative, such as a school board member, mayor, city council member, or attorney general. Consider who has the power to implement the solution you are suggesting, and search for that person's name and contact information online.
Schedule a Workshop with the Pulitzer Center Education Team
Would you like to schedule an interactive virtual workshop to prepare your students for the Local Letters for Global Change contest? We're offering free workshops for classrooms, out-of-school time programs, and other groups of K-12 students between August 16 and November 10, 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What should I expect during the workshop? How long will it last?
Workshops last 45-75 minutes, depending on your availability and preference. We suggest scheduling a 60-75 minute workshop, if you have the class time, for a more robust discussion.
During the workshop, the facilitator will introduce the contest mission and rules to students. We will also explore an excerpt of a news story together and will practice the thinking routine underlying a successful letter. Time permitting, we will analyze a past winning entry and explore how students can get started with their letters. The primary workshop goals are to get students excited about writing their letters, and to help them feel prepared and empowered to write persuasively about issues that matter to them. Workshops are designed to be highly interactive and discussion-based. We will provide students with multiple ways to engage (verbally, in writing, in small groups, kinesthetically, etc.)
To preview the workshop presentation for upper middle and high school students, request access here. Versions for younger students and in Spanish are also available.
How should I prepare for the workshop?
The workshop is designed to introduce the contest to students. As a result, we recommend that your students participate before writing their letters, and that you devote more class time to follow-up than preparation. However, students may be more comfortable and excited participating in the workshop if they have some familiarity with the project and how it relates to class. We suggest sharing the Local Letters for Global Change web portal with students so they are familiar with the contest guidelines, and that you share information about deadlines or grading for your class with students in advance, if any.
If you want students to get a head start on the work for the contest before the workshop, we suggest sharing this video, which introduces the Pulitzer Center and the concept of underreported stories. Students can then explore the Suggested Stories tab on this page and/or www.pulitzercenter.org/stories to identify a news story they want to use for their letter.
Can workshops be customized for my class?
We have a standard presentation that your facilitator will use to guide the workshop. However, we are happy to support your learning goals for the session by emphasizing particular content and skills. For example, we can include key vocabulary to reinforce lessons on rhetorical techniques, or discuss the responsibilities of different elected representative to whom they might address their letter. Feel free to indicate content and skills you would especially like to emphasize in your workshop request form, and we will let you know whether we are able to do so.
Is there a cost associated with these workshops?
Local Letters for Global Change workshops are free to K-12 students and educators. However, we ask that teachers have all students complete a survey, and that the teacher completes an evaluation as well. These surveys help us continue offering free education programs, and to improve the experience for students and educators.
This program is made possible by our incredible community of donors and foundations. To support this work or to learn more about donating to the Pulitzer Center, click here!
What if I have multiple classes or sections?
You can request as many workshops as needed to accommodate your students. If you are able to combine multiple classes for one workshop, we welcome you to do so.
If request volume prohibits us from accommodating your request, we will be in touch to discuss options for scheduling. Thank you for your understanding as we aim to provide many schools with the opportunity to participate in Local Letters for Global Change.
Can I request a workshop in other languages?
At this time, our staff has the capacity to facilitate workshops in English and in Spanish. You can indicate which language you prefer in the workshop request form.
Can students enter the contest without participating in a workshop?
Yes! Workshops are designed to support students in planning their letters, but participation in a workshop does not affect eligibility for the contest. Furthermore, the presentations used for the workshop are available to all in the Resources for Teachers and Students tab, along with a letter-writing template and evaluation rubric.
Students may write in response to any news story on the Pulitzer Center website. Here are a few suggested news stories to get you started!
Stories for grades 3 and up:
- Next Generation of Doctors Prepares To Tackle Rural Health Care Shortage in West Virginia [Video, text]
- Trash Sorters in Ghana Face Health and Safety Risks [Audio, photo, text]
- India Faces Challenge of Feeding Its People As It Becomes World’s Most Populous Nation [Video, text]
- Illinois Students Struggle To Find Halal Food [Photo, text]
- San Diego Pays a Lot for Abundant Water. Tijuana Pays a Different Price for Water Scarcity. [Photo, text]
- Disaster Aid Running Out As Pakistan Struggles To Recover From 2022 Floods [Video, text]
Stories for grades 6 and up:
- The Future of Labor Advocacy is as Diverse as Workforce [Photo, text]
- Toxic Water in S. Texas Colonias Costs Residents Precious Health and Money [Audio, photo, text]
- The Race To Extract an Indigenous Language From Its Last Lucid Speaker [Photo, text]
- Can We Control Marine Invaders by Eating Them? [Video, photo, text]
- How Extreme Heat Impacts Your Brain and Mental Health [Video, text] *Content warning: Mentions of suicide
- Purepecha Tribe: A Power Struggle Between the People and Government [Photo, text]
- India Is Home to 169 Billionaires, but These Children Still Forage Through Trash [Photo, text]
- Health Care Professionals Who Are Transgender and Non-binary Are Changing the Exclusionary Health Care System [Photo, text]
- Young Climate Activists Warn Their Elders: Stop Destroying the Planet [Photo, text]
- India Is Home to 169 Billionaires, but These Children Still Forage Through Trash [Photo, text]
Stories for grades 9 and up:
- The Vice of Spice: Confronting Lead-Tainted Turmeric [Photo, text]
- Parts Made by U.S. Companies Are Used To Build Russian Cruise Missiles [Video, text]
- Those Who Don't Exist: Long COVID in Mexico [Video, photo, text]
- Dreams Derailed: How Three States in the American South Made College Illegal for Undocumented Students [Photo, graphic, text]
- Powerful U.S. Political Family Linked to Copper Mining in the Colombian Rainforest [Photo, graphic, text]
- How Denmark’s Welfare State Became a Surveillance Nightmare [Text]
- Black Pregnant Women Are Turning to Midwives for Personalized Care—And a Better Chance at Survival [Photo, text]
- Extreme Heat Is Endangering America's Workers—and Its Economy [Video, photo, text]
- Collagen Craze Drives Deforestation and Rights Abuses [Photo, text]
- For Ghana’s Only Openly Transgender Musician, ‘Every Day Is Dangerous’ [Photo, text]
- In Ukraine, Grain Shortages Reverberate Beyond Borders [Photo, text]
- Are Carbon Offsets All They’re Cracked Up To Be? We Tracked One From Kenya to England To Find Out. [Text]
- Tracked: How Colleges Use AI To Monitor Student Protests [Photo, text] *Content warning: Mentions of suicide and gun violence
- Rebellion in Resistance: Profile of a Palestinian Educator [Photo, text] *Content warning: Descriptions of state violence
- The War of the Past Is Still Present: Landmine Clearance in Vietnam [Photo, text] *Content warning: Descriptions of war violence
Stories in Spanish:
Para ver noticias en español, haga clic aquí y visite el tabulador "Historias sugeridas."