Seventeen Works With First Lady Michelle Obama and the Better Make Room Campaign for Essay Contest to Celebrate the Next Generation College Students

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - December 02, 2015) - Seventeen, the largest monthly teen media brand, today announced the #BetterMakeRoom Essay Contest for girls who look to achieve, conquer, and reach toward higher education, in support of the Better Make Room campaign, launched by First lady Michelle Obama. The magazine's May 2016 "Commencement" issue, on newsstands April 19, will feature the First Lady. Winners will also appear in the issue.

Better Make Room is a new public awareness campaign that calls on young Americans to seek higher education -- whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university -- and guides them through the steps to get there. The campaign also celebrates those reaching higher by spotlighting their higher education stories across various media and advertising platforms. User-generated content appears on the Better Make Room website, posters, outdoor street art, and more, allowing for self-expression, support and encouragement to ignite this powerful movement. Better Make Room is part of the Reach Higher initiative to create higher-education opportunities for low-income and minority youth.

Seventeen is asking girls, ages 14 - 20, to write brief essays of 500 words about their goal to seek higher education. Applicants are asked to write about how they are overcoming obstacles to secure a spot in their dream college, how they are building their voice for a cause they care about, and how they plan to make room for others to join them on their journey. The two winners of the essay contest will receive an all-expenses paid trip for themselves and a chaperone to Washington, D.C., where they may have the opportunity to meet with the First Lady. Winners will also be featured in the special May "Commencement" issue of Seventeen.

Entries for the #BetterMakeRoom Essay Contest will be accepted November 24 to January 5 and should be submitted via email at bettermakeroom@seventeen.com.

"It's our mission at Seventeen to empower teens to be confident and higher education is such an important part of that," said Michelle Tan, editor in chief, Seventeen. "I couldn't be more excited about supporting Better Make Room along with First Lady Michelle Obama. We can't wait to celebrate and showcase the winners in our May issue and inspire our readers."

In addition to the feature in the May issue, Seventeen will produce additional editorial support for Better Make Room in several upcoming issues, including how-to guides on funding higher education, living on your own, adjusting to new social circles, and crushing it in college.

More information and official rules on the Seventeen #BetterMakeRoom Essay Contest can be found here.

About Seventeen

Seventeen (www.seventeen.com) is the largest monthly teen media brand, reaching more than 15 million readers in print and online every month. For over 70 years, Seventeen has helped generations of girls navigate the tricky terrain of adolescence, giving them the confidence they need to become strong, self-assured young women. Never losing sight of the importance of delivering her world her way, Seventeen is a leader on the digital front with seventeen.com -- the largest teen magazine Web site -- the Seventeen Now app for her iPhone and Droid, as well as with the monthly edition of the magazine across all platforms. Seventeen continues the conversation on social platforms, connecting with millions of girls via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. In addition to its US flagship, Seventeen publishes three editions around the world. Seventeen is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation, one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. With 21 titles in the US, Hearst is the leading publisher of monthly magazines in terms of total paid circulation (AAM 2H 2014), reaching 78 million readers (Spring 2015 MRI gfk) and 54 million site visitors each month (comScore). Follow Seventeen on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.