The 2024 Local Letters for Global Change contest is open!

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.

ELIGIBILITY:

We welcome entries from all current K–12 students across the globe. Letters may be written in English and/or Spanish. Letters should address a topic within one of the Pulitzer Center’s five focus issues:

Climate and Environment (including climate change, pollution, extractive industries, and more)

Global Health (which includes health inequities, food security, mental health, water and sanitation, and more)

Human Rights (which include racial justice, gender equality, migration and refugees, Indigenous rights, and more)

Information and Artificial Intelligence (including technology and society, misinformation, and more)

Peace and Conflict

Go to the Suggested Stories tab above and choose a story that gives you new information about an issue that matters to you. (All eligible stories are available at www.pulitzercenter.org/stories.)

BENEFIT:

We will select one first place winner and up to four finalists for each issue category. First place winners will receive:

$300 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

Finalists will receive:

$75 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

All entrants will be invited to participate in a Pulitzer Center town hall event, held virtually in November, to share their solutions with other students from around the world.