Teen Ink Magazine

Publication Summary
Teen Ink is a journal/magazine dedicated to publishing a variety of works written by teenagers. A print version is published monthly from September to June, with a yearly summer hiatus. It also appears online at www.teenink.com. Multiple genres and types of writing are included: author interviews, original art, educator of the year essays, college essays and reviews, articles on the environment, health, and community service, poetry, nonfiction, point of view essays, and fiction. Teens also review books, movies, TV shows, and music.

Critical Evaluation
This unique publication has been in operation for 21 years in order to give teens an outlet for their writing and a means of publishing their creative work. The work I have seen in this publication is mature and thought-provoking.

Reader’s Annotation
Take a minute to see what other teens throughout the country think! Maybe you'll get some ideas for writing of your own.

Author Information
Teen Ink is published by The Young Authors Foundation, based out of Newton, MA. In their own words, "the Young Authors Foundation, Inc., founded in 1989, is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit foundation providing a unique and far-reaching reading, communications and writing experience for teenagers. Teen Ink, the foundation's monthly print magazine, reaches hundreds of thousands of students in public and private high schools and middle schools across the country. The foundation also publishes the Poetry Journal three times a year and maintains an online version with daily features to allow additional teens an opportunity to be published" (Teen Ink FAQ).The senior editor is Stephanie Meyer (no relation to the author of Twilight!).

An article at the National Writing Project website, which is dedicated to improving writing and learning in schools, says that along with "providing a forum where teens can express themselves through poetry, essays, stories, reviews, art, and photographs[,] Teen Ink also sponsors contests encouraging students to write about such topics as creative environmental solutions or volunteering in the community. But, unlike some magazines, Teen Ink does not sponsor these contests primarily to boost circulation, but rather to encourage the magazine's interaction with its young readers and writers." Articles posted on the Teen Ink website can get more than 400 comments, and this interaction allows readers and writers to engage in positive dialogue about their work, a useful skill for later in life.

Genre
Magazine

Curriculum Ties
English classes: creative writing

Booktalking Ideas
Do you like to write? Do you want to read what other teens are writing?

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 6-12.

Challenge Issues
Some discussion of drinking, sex, drugs.

I included this magazine because it is sponsored in part by VOYA. I thought that if VOYA approved it, it must be good!