I wrote this Op-Ed piece on a whim when I learned about a potential cash prize for best entry–exclusively for teenagers. I worked on the paper on and off for about a week before submitting it just before the deadline. I didn’t really expect much to come of it, but that Saturday I woke up to check the announcements, and to my utter surprise, I found that I had tied for second place. I read and reread the gushing comments from the judge, all day feeling like the most accomplished person in the world. This was the first piece I ever won a cash prize ($50) for in a writing competition.
Here’s the original article on my Write the World account: How Healthie is the Selfie?
And here are the judge’s comments about my piece: Write the World Blog
*Scroll…scroll…scroll* The Instagram feed is long again after a day of my social introversion. Not surprisingly, the feed is composed of the same generic content: selfies, food, throwbacks, selfies, Starbucks, transformation pictures, selfies, sunsets, hospital pictures, pets, weekday crushes—and did I mention selfies? This international, social networking phenomenon has deluged the internet as quickly as a flash flood. The question is: how healthy is the selfie? While the trend has been viewed as a modern self-portrait, selfies have also been known to be signs of vanity or insecurity, and viewers are quickly bored by the onslaught of meaningless mugs.
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