The New York Times hosts essay contest

Have you dreamed about seeing your byline in The New York Times? Well, here's your chance.

The Times has launched an essay contest for undergraduate college students nationwide on the topic of love. To enter, students must write a personal essay between 1,500 and 2,000 words that illustrates the current state of love and relationships. The winning essay will be published on May 4, in a special issue of the weekly Modern Love column and on NYTimes.com. The winner will also receive $1,000 and be featured on MTVu, MTV’s 24-hour college network, as well as on mtvU.com. The deadline for submissions is March 31.

Essays should be submitted via e-mail to essaycontest@nytimes.com.

“Each week Modern Love redefines what love means as seen through the eyes of a different beholder,” Trip Gabriel, editor of the Times' Sunday Styles section said in a news release about the contest. “We’re very excited to hear the voices of our college-age readers who tackle life and love in a vastly different way than the generations before them.”

Launched in October 2004, the Modern Love column appears in the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times. Writers are invited to submit personal essays about a wide range of relationship experiences including marriage, personal loss, dating, divorce, and parenthood. An online archive of Modern Love columns can be found here.


A book of the best essays from the column, “Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit and Devotion,” edited by Daniel Jones, Modern Love column editor, is available at bookstores and online at NYTStore.com.

This isn't the first time the Times has sponsored a college essay contest. In July, the magazine published "What's the Matter With College," an essay by the historian Rick Perlstein, online and invited college students to respond. Some 600 did. You can read the winning essay and four runners-up, as well as search 450 other entries by school, state and class year at http://essay.blogs.nytimes.com/.