This summer, young writers from all over the world joined The Journal Bootcamp to learn about current events, write creatively, and get published! Students worked closely with their dedicated coaches each week to edit and refine their writing, until it was worthy of a feature in an online magazine.

Dozens of students took the challenge one step further by entering the Summer 2025 Letterly National Writing Competition!

After days of reading, scoring, and re-reading entries, we are so thrilled and proud to bring you this year’s winners…

In the “Over 13” category…
🥇 1st Place: Youheng Zhong for “The Barren Spot”
🥈 2nd Place: Ryan Peng for “Ants”
🥉 3rd Place: Eric Gu for “Airplanes: Soaring the Skies
⭐️ Honorable Mention: Amanda Zhang for “If I Could Talk to My Little Self”
⭐️ Honorable Mention: Cooper Lee for “4th of July”

In the “12 and Under” category…
🥇 1st Place: Zachary Fan for “The Day the Refrigerator Quit”
🥈 2nd Place: Elena Chen for “Rain”
🥉 3rd Place: Jessica Yu for “Forever Late”
⭐️ Honorable Mention: Jenny Liang for “The forest took her”
⭐️ Honorable Mention: Archer Xiang for “A New Super Power In the Ocean!”
⭐️ Honorable Mention: Melissa Zhao for “Beauty Through the Lines”

We thank all of our young writers and their families for showcasing their unique voices and spirits through their work! We can’t wait to see what you come up with in our upcoming programming.

Happy Writing!

💌 The Letterly Team