691. How to Write a Letter to the Editor and Enter the Tuttle Twins America 250 Contest

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Way the World Works. I want you to imagine for a minute that you get up in the morning and you grab your newspaper from the front porch, which people don't really do anymore, but let's say you do, or you log online and the first thing you do is you look at your local news outlet, which again you probably don't do, but maybe you do, and there you see it.

You are in the newspaper. How cool would that be? That would be amazing, right? Guess what? It's not because you won a basketball game. It's not because you won a, you know, I don't know what other reasons that you're in the news, maybe bad reasons, who knows? It's because you wrote a letter to the editor.

You wrote your opinion on something and they publish it in a newspaper and that might seem crazy, right? You might be thinking, I'm a kid. That's not going to happen. Nobody cares what I have to say.

Well, not true. And it happens all the time. News editors love that and they especially love when they have a kid that has a really strong opinion or point of view on something and they can publish it.

So this is possible. It's not only possible, but I want to encourage you to do it. And we're doing actually a contest, but I'm going to get to that towards the end of the podcast.

But let's talk about what letters to the editor are, give you some tips on how to write them, and then I'll tell you more about this contest we're doing. So a letter to the editor, there's usually a spot in the newspaper online now, not necessarily a newspaper, but there's a spot where regular readers can give a short piece. It's real short, saying their opinion on something, something that's going on in the news, maybe something that was reported, maybe responding to another article they saw.

But this has been a tradition in our country forever, and I'll get into that in a minute as well. But these are pieces that regular people submit every single day. You just contact the editor, you say, you know, here's this thing I wrote.

Now they don't always take it, right? Back in the day, I'm sure they got more than they probably do today, but they don't always publish it. It's not guaranteed that you're going to get it published, but they do take a look at it. The only thing you really need is, you know, a good idea, the courage and the skills to write it all down, and the courage to also send it.

It is a little nerve wracking, because like I said, they may not pick your article, and it doesn't mean that anything is, you know, wrong with what you wrote. It just they might not have the space or they may have something better that came along. But you can try.

And there's usually dozens of newspapers, so you can try many outlets and see if they'll do that. And people do like to hear them, because basically what a letter to the editor is, is you saying, hey, I have some good ideas I want to share, and people want to hear them. So letters to the editor, these kind of opinions from regular people, these are deeply rooted in our country's history, right? Long before TikTok, long before Instagram, long before any of these things, people read newspapers, right? Or people read, we've talked about common sense, that pamphlet that Thomas Paine wrote.

Or people wrote, you know, pamphlets. People wrote essays. People wanted to hear what other people thought.

And their only real outlet, it was either sitting, standing in the town square shouting your opinions, which did happen sometimes, going to a town hall meeting where there was usually structured debates or people, you know, expressing ideas or regular audience members able to go up and ask people, you know, questions, ask public officials questions, or you had the newspaper. So this was a very big part of American life. This was a very big part of how you participated in society.

And yes, were most of these people who were writing these letters to the editor, were they adults? Yes, they were. But and this is one of my favorite stories, one of our favorite American founding fathers, he was not an adult. He was a kid when he started writing letters to the editor.

And that was Mr. Benjamin Franklin. So Benjamin Franklin had a lot of thoughts. He had a lot of things to say.

And he was, by and large, actually unschooled or homeschooled. He did go to some school. I think he stopped in third grade.

But he learned through life. He learned through, you know, trade. He learned how to, like, make candles and do all this fun stuff.

And he became very well educated. If you know anything about Ben Franklin, you know, he was very well spoken, a big fan of free press. He actually started his own newspapers.

But before all of that, Ben Franklin had a lot of things to say and he wanted to say them. And he was worried that because of his young age, the newspapers were not going to publish him. So he started writing a series of letters to the editor under the name Silence Do Good, where he pretended to be like an old widow.

And it's just funny when we think about it now, but that became his thing. That's how he got his opinion out, because he he had good ideas. He was very articulate.

He knew how to convey his thoughts. And so we have this tradition because they were published. We have this tradition of of newspapers wanting to hear your ideas.

And even though he did lie about who he was. So you might be thinking, well, yeah, he was a kid and he did it, but he said he was an adult. Yes, he did.

But trust me, newspapers, news outlets, they think it's pretty cool and refreshing to hear a young person's take, especially a young person who shows that they really understand, you know, these issues. So shifting gears a little bit. Let's talk about why things like letters to the editor or getting your thoughts down on paper or on a screen are so important.

Something really magical happens when you write. And I say this is somebody who both public speaks and somebody who writes. So when I sit down to do these episodes for you, usually I write them out first, unless it's a history story I've written about so many times that I know I write them out first.

Why do I do that? Because putting your words down on a screen or on paper helps you organize these complex thoughts. It helps you work out everything and see how you can get from, you know, one topic to another in these transitions. And it helps you make these ideas and what you want to say organized in a way that isn't as easy to do if you're just, you know, spattering.

And it is. Some people are great at it. And it takes practice being a good communicator and, you know, off the cuff, like on the fly, public speaker, somebody who's not writing a script that does take a lot of practice.

It is possible. But writing really helps you get down thoughts in a way that makes them persuasive and makes them powerful and makes them easy to understand. And that's what a letter to the editor does, right? It gives you a chance to take a big idea and to sit and defend that idea in not even that many words.

So when we're talking about letter to the editor, you want it to be max 150 to 300 words. Like that's it. It's not going to be some big epic thing.

And it's actually harder to get your all your thoughts down in fewer words. But it also, trust me, the fewer words you can do it in a way that gets everything you want to say across. That's good writing.

We call that economy of words, meaning you want to be, you know, frugal with the words you use. Have you ever, some people say to do this, have you ever had like big feelings or you've been really bothered by something? And so you journal and you get all your thoughts out in a journal or you write an imaginary letter. You never send.

I've done that if I've been angry at people before where I don't send it, but I write it just to get the thoughts out. It's the same kind of thing, right? You're using words on paper or a screen to get down what you're feeling in a way that helps you work it out. And so the same thing is true of these big ideas and letters to the editor.

It also helps you be a lot more calm, respectful and less, you know, emotional about an issue that might be, you know, you might have a lot of passionate views about. So writing is just such a good way to temper those things and to come across in a way that makes you sound really smart. Like you know what you're talking about.

So why does this matter and how can you practice your letter to the editor skills? Well, you're in luck because this week Tuttle Twins is launching their letter to the editor contest. So we want you guys to write a letter to your local editors or whatever publication you would like about what America 250 means to you. This year, our country turns 250 years old.

And if you're a listener on this podcast, you know how exciting that is. You know how important it is to honor that. So we want you to take these big ideas about America 250, about where America is today, about where we've come from, about the important people that helped make America, about the ideas that helped make America.

Are they still around today? Have we lost sight of what's important? These are just ideas. You don't have to write about it all, but you can take one of those things and write a really good letter to the editor, maybe about what patriotism means to you, what freedom means to you. There's so many good, just, you know, ripe topics that you can pick to write about what America 250 means to you.

So how this contest works, we want you to write a letter to the editor, submit it to your local newspaper, and then show us proof of that, you know, take a screenshot, whatever it is, and upload that to the Tuttle Twins contest page. And good news, extra added bonus, if the newspaper accepts your letter to the editor, that counts as a double entry. So you have an even bigger chance of winning.

And this is such a good experience because it isn't just, you know, writing an essay for school. You're actually going to be a part of the civil discourse of this exchange of ideas that helped make America what it is and helped make America what it was then, discussing ideas and writing essays and pamphlets. And so this is such a really good opportunity to actually take an active role in what's going on in your community and in the country.

Now to the fun part, what do you get if you win this contest? So 250 winners are going to have the three-part Tuttle Twins American History series donated to the library under their name, which is great because then for years to come, your local community will have access to these great books. The third installment of the Tuttle Twins American History series is coming out soon, and we are so excited about that. So this is a great way to celebrate this.

And the grand prize winner, their family gets a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. If you've never been to Charleston, South Carolina, it is absolutely beautiful. And it also has such deep, deep roots in our American history, right? A lot of people don't realize that many of the Revolutionary War battles were actually fought in Charleston, in South Carolina.

So this is such a great opportunity. It is rich with so much American history. It's one of my favorite places in the entire country.

This is such a great opportunity, not only for you to practice your writing skills, but to really embrace America 250 and share all the wonderful things you've learned from the Tuttle Twins books and from this podcast. So how do you do it? Well, first things first, how are you going to get the editor's contact info? Go to your local news publication or where you want to submit this letter. And usually they have a opinions page or a letter to the editor page.

And you can look for that. And they'll say there's a contact. Easier way, just Google it.

Say, who is the editor at this newspaper, this publication? And usually it'll give you a name. And you just send an email and you say, this is my idea. This is what I want to tell you about.

And then you submit your piece. So just some advice to get you started. You don't want to pick a lot of things to talk about.

You don't have that many words to do it in. So pick one specific thing that you want to write about and be very, very specific about explaining that thing. Use some real life historical examples to back up your claim.

And then be respectful. The worst thing you can do is write your letter to the editor saying, here's my opinion. I'm right because you're all dumb and I'm smarter than all of you and blah, blah, blah.

Nobody wants to read that. So be respectful. Let the facts speak for themselves.

Let your argument make itself through your words. You don't need to name call or act like you're smarter or anything than anybody else. And again, keep it short, 150 to 300 words.

That's your sweet spot. That's what's going to get an editor to look at your piece and to be willing to publish it. And my last piece of advice, be courageous.

Understand that maybe they're going to get turned down, but guess what? There's always going to be another publication to apply to and you will get it eventually. Just keep at it. This is such a good opportunity, not only to work on your persuasive writing skills, but also to honor America's 250th birthday and all the ideas and people who made it great.

So I cannot wait to see what you guys come up with. I cannot wait to see how this contest goes. Best of luck to you guys.

And I can't wait to see who wins. So I will leave it there. As always, don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast.

And until next time, I will talk to you later.