First Place: “A Warm Tear” by A.T., age 23
A young Syrian is in Egypt at the moment Mubarak resigns. Against the backdrop of Tahrir Square celebrations, he reflects on how his generation has spent their entire lives repressed by Syria’s so-called “Emergency Law.” He acknowledges being unprepared – “[we] have no idea what civilian rule really is” – but still looks ahead with a cautious optimism that the “volcanoes erupting in the Arab world” will yield a better future.

Second Place: “Equality for Everyone” by S.B., age 24
A young Tunisian celebrates her new freedom – after living essentially her entire life under one dictator – by focusing on the plight of some of her society’s most vulnerable fellow citizens: gays and lesbians. By recounting the ordeals of several homosexual friends, she makes the case that the issue must be addressed openly in the new Tunisia as a litmus test of civil rights progress.

Third Place: “Iran Was Never Iran to Me” by Shokoufeh Shadabi, age 22
A young Iranian shares the pain of being rejected by her homeland simply because of her religious beliefs. Banned by the ruling regime from university simply because of her faith, she has to study in underground schools operated and ultimately feels compelled to flee Iran. Still, she remains in dialogue with Muslim friends left behind and – channeling Langston Hughes – dares to dream that one day she will be able to embrace the country that rejected her.

Third Place: “My Dream Deferred” by M.E., age 24, Egypt
A young Egyptian eyewitness to the Arab Spring allows himself to feel an unprecedented burst of optimism while still acknowledging serious concerns about the future of the region. He decides to channel his mixed emotions into expressing an ambitious dream of a better future – one in which the mistakes of the 1979 Iranian revolution are not repeated elsewhere in the region. Instead of the rule of clerics, he dares to imagine an open society where difference is respected and celebrated.

Third Place: “Uninvited” by Sarah Almoemen, age 16
A Kuwaiti teenager asks her readers to consider the plight of Kuwait’s “bedoon” (literally, “without”), natives denied citizenship because of political whims. To walk in the shoes of her fellow non-citizen Kuwaitis, the author metaphorically trades “Louis Vuittons for soles that have been ripped.” Her hope is that grassroots pressure might at last address one of the region’s core taboos – that the vast majority of people who live in Gulf states are not citizens.

First Place: “Horeeya Online and in the Streets,” by Banah Ghadbian, age 16
A teenager in Arkansas pours her heart into a simple YouTube video encouraging Syrians to take a stand for freedom. As the daughter of Syrian exiles, the author explains that “my video aimed to connect viewers to a personal story of how one country’s politics is still affecting its children oceans away.” The result became a sort of viral video, attracting support from young people inside Syria who would soon risk their lives in the streets.

Second Place: “Acid Eye” by Sumayya Younus, age 17
A New York teenager travels back to Afghanistan and has a jarring encounter with a girl attacked simply for attending school. The incident reminds the author of her good fortune and propels her forward as the first woman in the history of her family and village to attend college. She aims to leverage her education to help all Afghan girls gain “access to an exceptional and safe education.”

Third Place: “The Only ‘Man’ in Politics” by Noor Merher Ahmad, age 19
An Indiana teenager profiles Jordanian activist Toujan al-Faisal, whose exposure of political corruption led to an 18-month jail sentence. The author recounts al-Faisal’s prison hunger strike and observes that “she lives out her rights instead of asking for them, creating equality through her actions and sets an example for a new generation.” One inspired new activist is the author herself, who recognizes her own abilities to Mideast reformers.

Third Place: “Iran-Safe Blogging” by Anton Root, age 21
A graduate student in Brooklyn who grew up in Russia proposes a practical new project to assist young Iranians, Inspired by the “samizdat” (“self-published”) pamphlets that circulated dissident writings in the Soviet Union, the initiative is imagined as a small team of Americans working to help give a range of dissident Iranian voices – from the urban liberal to the rural conservative – a safe way to circumvent online censorship and overcome the “monopoly of knowledge the authorities enjoy.”

Third Place: “On the Frontlines in the Gulf” by N.N., age 23
A native of Appomattox, Virginia – site of the final battle of the Civil War – profiles a man at the center of the civil rights struggle in Bahrain, site of a “thirty-year tug-of-war match between its Sunni ruling family and largely Shiite population.” The essay considers the plight of Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Human Rights Center and his strategy as a dissident in a repressive society. Rajab’s struggles inspire the author to consider the role she can play as an American.