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This I Believe

Global Youth Fund invites you to submit short essays about your personal philosophies and the core values and beliefs that guide you day-to-day. We’re especially interested in what you have to say about our world’s most critical challenges.

Our essay project is based on the 1950s radio program, This I Believe, hosted by journalist Edward R. Murrow. He saw that Americans during the Cold War were living in an “age of confusion” and wanted to offer ordinary citizens an opportunity to express their beliefs and resist the “cloud of fear.”

Today’s youth live in equally challenging times.

All around them, national, religious, and cultural barriers are breaking down. Identities and beliefs are constantly being tested. Now more than ever, we need to ask ourselves, “What do I believe?”

Global Youth Fund invites submissions from all youth (between ages 13 and 25), regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, or sexual orientation.

All essays meeting our guidelines will be made available on this website.

This is an ongoing project so there is no deadline.

What You Can Do:

Essay Guidelines

Global Youth Fund’s essay project is inspired by the current This I Believe series on National Public Radio, so we intend to follow the same guidelines they give to their writers.

If you would like to submit something that doesn’t adhere to these guidelines (i.e. spoken word performance, video essays, etc.), write to us first.

Here are the five guiding principles:

Tell a story
Humans love stories. We love to tell and re-tell them. Stories don’t have to be epic adventures. They can be about a conversation with someone, a chance meeting that made a deep impression, a dream you had. They can be funny or serious. Think of a moment or story in your life that had great impact on you. Tell it to us - from beginning to middle to end - and tell us how it shaped or tested your belief. It will likely make for a powerful and memorable story.

We also encourage young people to write about the global challenges that we face (i.e. extreme poverty, AIDS, sustainability) and the solutions you believe will help us through them. However, we’re not looking for pure opinion pieces. Connect your solution to real life stories that led you to your belief.

Be brief
350 to 500 words, or three minutes when read out loud.

Name your belief
You should be able to summarize your belief in a phrase or sentence. If you can’t, you might not be writing about belief. Also, focus on one core belief rather than list a whole bunch.

Be positive
Tell us what you believe, not what you don’t believe. You don’t have to love all mankind but don’t devote an entire essay to criticizing someone, some group, or some thing.

Be personal
Read your essay out loud and make sure you are writing in an intimate, conversational style. Ask yourself, is this the way I talk? If not, try to make your writing more conversational.

Lastly, speak for yourself, not for some collective “we.”
We also suggest that you read the original producer’s invitation to those who wrote essays in the 1950s. The advice then still holds up well.

SUBMIT YOUR ESSAY