Teenager | Young Writers Project

Writing Challenges: Inspiration and ideas to spark your creativity every day

[Art by Amelia_v, YWP]

Who are you and what is your life like as a teenager in 2023? In words or images, explore, but don't feel limited by, questions such as:

Who are you at your core? How, when, or where do you most feel like your true self?
What most inspires you? Where do you find awe, joy, contentment, kindness, love?
What are the major influences in your life – people, places, ideas, creativity, the arts? How do they help to define who you are, what is important to you, and what you hope for in your life?
What issues are teenagers facing that adults don’t understand?

PRIZES AND PUBLICATION IN TWO CATEGORIES: Writing: Poetry, prose, essay, commentary, songwriting; Visual Art Category: Photography, painting, sketching, sculpture, collage, digital art. If your chosen genre or medium isn't listed here, that's OK, go ahead and submit it!
NOTE TO VISUAL ARTISTS: Responses can be abstract, literal, symbolic, interpretive, realistic – whatever best conveys your message.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2023

Return to main contest page for all the details!

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Responses to this Challenge

Mar 15

poetry challenge: Teenager

elise.writer

to be young

and i'm sitting here,
gnawing my nails to thin pink brittle
twisting a stolen colored pencil with each finger,
one at a time, muscles twitching
to reach some distant mountain scape from my dreams
trying to ignore how my lens on reality
is cleverly omitted from every nod and smile
how the attention my numb conscience deserves
is notoriously stripped to the bone, because
i'm too young to know what's best for myself.
in the so-called safety of the so-called home,
the ancient familiarity and assumed forgiveness
brush over my voice in rich red watercolor
and I'm drowning, drowning, until
in the cookiecutter carelessness of the
obsessive, opressive, public, my voice
is silenced by the thunder of every other
seven point nine billion minus one
individuaks who would their power high in the sky,
out of my reach, and my words are
drowned, drowning, drowning.
they tell me to overcome that

Posted: 03.15.23

Mar 01

visual art challenge: Teenager

Samara Raiche

Clear Lenses

This is an image of me and some of the things that are important to me. The sunglasses are the main focus because they are created with color. In this image, I am looking at a picture wall. One of the lenses is the reflection of me and my boyfriend. The other lens shows a bouquet of flowers. This represents my job, which I love. Also, in this lens are other pictures. They represent my interest in painting.

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

nonfiction challenge: Teenager

solentsorrows

Identity

Being a teenager, to me, means that more than ever I have to hold on as tight as I can to my identity. When I was 12, I watched as the Capitol building was stormed. I watched people at that riot wearing shirts that read “6MWE,” meaning 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust wasn’t enough. Seeing all my favorite Disney movies have “Jewish-coded” villains, being portrayed with harmful Jewish stereotypes. I read young adult-level books about the Holocaust on my own in elementary school – I read Anne Frank’s diary in its entirety in a week the summer before 8th grade.

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

visual art challenge: Teenager

laurenkimm1231

FREAK

This abstract artwork with a with teared down canvas and splattered drops of paint, represents myself as a FREAK. The word FREAK represents the difference and uniqueness of myself that might not qualify in the current social expectations. I believe that by admitting my difference as a FREAK straightforwardly, will tell me who I am and comfort me by giving me the confidence that I am valuing my identity. My teenage years helped me find myself and at the end of the long journey of finding who I am, I found myself standing as a FREAK– different, but confident.

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

nonfiction challenge: Teenager

laurenkimm1231

My Way

My childhood was greatly affected by a variety of types of art. I can’t remember every single artwork that I experienced, but everytime I exited the showroom, I could sense that I was developing my sense and vision of life. While people experience art, we think. We question the artist, question ourselves, analyze, understand, and accept. This whole process that swirls around my brain is defined with one word– thinking. And then, I could be certain. I could be certain that my way of thinking that was developed by repeating this process is different than anyone else in the world. My own vision, my own thoughts are factors that make me original which is soon me, myself. I feel great pride in the fact that no one else in the world can think the way I think. This is the most critical reason why I can believe in myself.

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

visual art challenge: Teenager

s.shaw

The Doodles I Make In School

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

visual art challenge: Teenager

s.shaw

The Doodles I Make In School

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

poetry challenge: Teenager

Camille C

Ice

The snow crunches underneath my feet
I like walking across the ice
I hear the water run underneath
The ice cracks
I don’t run
I don’t escape
I stay
Theres something about the ice cracking
Something so satisfying
I don’t fall in
I continue to walk around
Wishing I could skate over the ice like some
Gliding across, not afraid to fall in
But I am not afraid
I know the water is shallow
So I walk towards the deep part
Taking risks
I don’t here it crack
Instead, I hear the voices of people laughing
Scrapes across the ice from skates
But its too late
I feel the door open up underneath me
I plunge into the frozen water
I can’t swim up
Noone comes after me
I see others fall in too
I am no longer alone
They struggle
But they don’t wait long
Untill someone comes in after them
Reaching a hand to them
So I wait

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

visual art challenge: Teenager

Jill Dutton

Two Worlds

This is an image of my two sides. One side is colorful and the other is black and white. The glitter helps to hold the two sides together.
Submitted by Marah Cain, 18, West Rutland, VT

Posted: 03.01.23

Mar 01

poetry, visual art challenge: Teenager

Tess_l17

The Artichokes We Are

[Art: by Tess, sculpture]

Though we may not know it
And are probably afraid to show it
We are all artichokes
Full of layers
Full of flavors
Just one fruit from a tree of life
A tree of history
Of ancestry
Hated by some
Loved by others
And those who have never seen or met us but judge us by our looks
Some who don’t know how to step back and look at the full picture
But instead judge us by the cover of our book
Who pick and poke
But don’t dare to peel away our layers and find our heart
But those who do dare find our heart fill it with love
And they take a piece for themselves
Until we are nothing but shreds of ourselves
When our seeds fall to the ground
To make a creation of our own
It is only then when we fully come around
And are able to hone
Our full circle moment
When we finally are able to own it
And for once say
“I did better than okay.”

Posted: 03.01.23

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