modern love college essay contest 2017

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MODERN LOVE: THE COLLEGE ESSAY CONTEST; It's a Complicated Subject

Published: may 4, 2008.

Just before Valentine's Day this year, Sunday Styles did something very unromantic: we asked college students nationwide to tell the plain truth about what love is like for them. We weren't sure what to expect, but we thought we wouldn't receive many essays about red roses and white tablecloths.

When the contest deadline passed seven weeks later, more than 1,200 essays had arrived, from 365 schools in 46 states and Puerto Rico. In perhaps typical collegiate fashion, nearly 700 poured in on the last day, 400 over the final hour. We counted only three red roses among them, and one was bestowed in a laundry room.

As for the more complicated stuff, and the uniquely 21st century struggles -- those we got by the hundreds, covering everything from how students view communications technology (as a lifeline, a crutch or a scourge) to their ambivalence about the no-strings-attached sexual opportunism of the hookup culture.

Five of these essays will appear as the Modern Love column, starting today with Marguerite Fields's winning entry, ''Want to Be My Boyfriend? Please Define,'' an eloquent, clear-eyed account of her generation's often noncommittal dating scene. On the Sundays between Mother's Day (May 11) and Father's Day (June 15), we will publish the four runner-up essays.

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Jordana Narin Wins Modern Love College Essay Contest

Jordana Narin’s essay about what she sees as her generation’s reluctance to label relationships, won the 2015 Modern Love College Essay Contest. It was chosen from nearly 1,800 personal stories on the current state of love submitted by students from 489 colleges and universities nationwide. Ms. Narin, a sophomore at Columbia University, will receive $1000.

In addition to the publishing the winning essay ( online now and in print on May 3), The Times will publish the essays of the four finalists each week in May and the honorable mention essays in coming months.

Daniel Jones, editor of the Modern Love column, was impressed this year with “the range of voices and material, with subjects ranging from asexuality to Tinder matches and from hooking up to purity pledges.”

The New York Times 2015 Modern Love College Essay Contest Results

Jordana Narin, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, Class of 2017

Arla Knudsen, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, Class of 2016

Adam Lundquist, North Central College, Naperville, IL, Class of 2016

Jochebed Smith, Santa Monica College – SMC (Official), Los Angeles, CA, Class of 2017 (after transfer to university)

Davis Webster, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, Class of 2016

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Bindu Bansinath, Columbia University, New York, NY, Class of 2018

Emma Court, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Class of 2015

Sophie Dillon, Yale University, New Haven, CT, Class of 2017

Claire Jia, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, Class of 2015

Kim Kaletsky, New York University, New York, NY, Class of 2015

Additional details on the Modern Love essay contest, held previously in 2008 and 2011, are available at: www.nytimes.com/modernlovecontest .

(Media contact: Danielle Rhoades Ha, @daniellerha )

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Modern Love COLLEGE ESSAY CONTEST

The Winners of the 2022 Modern Love College Essay Contest

In these turbulent times, are the kids … all right? Read the winner and finalists to find out.

By Miya Lee and Daniel Jones

In February, just after Valentine’s Day, we announced our sixth college essay contest, asking college students nationwide to tell us the truth about what love is like for them today.

The last time we held this contest, in 2019 , the world was a very different place — before the pandemic, a global movement for social and racial justice, a rash of climate catastrophes and a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

This year, with college life disrupted as never before, students shared stories of isolation, identity, mental health struggles, returning to family, hooking up with hometown homebodies and finding community in surprising places.

Today, we are pleased to present the best of that writing, leading off with our winning essay by Layla Kinjawi Faraj, a freshman at Barnard College in New York City. Ms. Faraj’s entry spoke especially well to this era of fractured societies and online intimacy.

Our other finalists explored a wide range of subjects, from wrestling with racial hate, to body image and platonic love, to playlist flirtations on Spotify. We plan to publish the winning essays throughout May and June.

Congratulations to Ms. Faraj and the contest finalists, listed below, and our gratitude to all who participated.

— Daniel Jones , editor of Modern Love, and Miya Lee , editor of Modern Love projects

Layla Kinjawi Faraj, Barnard College, Class of 2025, “ My Plea for a Sixth Love Language ”

Lily Goldberg, Williams College, Class of 2022, “ I Bet You Think These Songs Are About You ”

August Singer, Reed College, Class of 2022, “ No Longer My Mother’s Daughter ”

Joyce Juhee Chung, New York University, Class of 2023, “ May We Please Just Date Without Hate? ”

Abby Comey, College of William & Mary, Class of 2022, “ Not Every Break Up is About Being Broken ”

Ife Olatona, Howard University, Class of 2024, “ Singleness Is Not a Stigma ”

Tatiana Jackson-Saitz, University of Chicago, Class of 2024, “ A Texting Lifeline During a Difficult Time ”

Kyleigh McPeek, Stanford University, Class of 2024

Contest readers: Danya Issawi and Emma Grillo. See previous contest essays and the entire Modern Love collection.

Modern Love can be reached at [email protected] .

To find previous Modern Love essays, Tiny Love Stories and podcast episodes, visit our archive .

Want more from Modern Love? Watch the TV series ; sign up for the newsletter ; or listen to the podcast on iTunes , Spotify or Google Play . We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, “ Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption ” and “ Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less .”

Miya Lee is the editor of Modern Love projects and co-host of the Modern Love podcast. More about Miya Lee

Stories of Love to Nourish Your Soul

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This Is Not the Relationship I Ordered:   Divorce leaves a woman with a surprising realization  about who has been the love of her life.

My Husband Is Two Years Older Than My Son:  A woman’s 19-year marital age gap feels treacherous — and is the best thing that’s ever happened to her .

Please Stay, Baby. Please?: The grief of miscarriage is largely invisible. And with each loss, the longing multiplies .

My Bad-Times-Only Boyfriend: Why is a woman’s long-ago fling suddenly acting as if he’s her husband ?

A Family Dinner With My Wife and Girlfriend: Learning to love two women at once  — one living with Alzheimer’s — is a challenge and a blessing.

Our Last, Impossible Conversation: Artificial intelligence gives a widow another chance to talk to her long-lost husband .