Guys in the Media Age

CONTEST BACKGROUND: First prize is $100. For boys and young men 12-19. This personal essay contest challenges you to talk about what it's like to grow up in a time and place when hype is all around you. It asks you to look at your own life and to question the influence on you, if any, of popular media. Images of teen and young-adult males are everywhere -- on billboards, in movies, in TV shows, in music videos, on radio, in the advertising of the billions of dollars' worth of sneakers, games, and movies you buy. Are you affected? Do these messages influence how you behave or how you feel about yourself? How easy or difficult is it for you to shape your own identity, to know your real voice, to figure out who you are and what you want in the midst of nonstop messages aimed your way? (You take in more than 5000 every day.) No problem? Big problem? More details.