The Local Lens

The Local Lens is a new publication by GIRA Local that seeks to uplift the voices of students in our community. Selected writing pieces will be posted to GIRA Local’s website and organized into a publication sent to GIRA Local’s mailing list, which includes hundreds of schools across the DMV and broader area. This is a great opportunity to practice your writing skills, with the chance for students to be recognized and make a powerful impact on a large audience.


Essay Details

This year’s theme is International Relations in the DMV. What topics do you think DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) residents need to know about? How does international relations relate back to the DMV? How have you learned about international relations in your local community? Middle and high school students living in DC, Maryland or Virginia are invited to submit an essay on these topics that is between 500 and 1,500 words. Submissions should fall into one of the following two categories:

  1. Research: Explain in detail a topic or phenomenon that interests you! Go on a research deep dive to learn more, then describe the subject + why the DMV community should care. In general, a research article should focus on a more objective explanation of a topic that you think people need to know more about.

  2. News: Report an event or series of events happening in the DMV. This can be something that you have done, an event you’ve attended, something you heard about, etc. In general, a news article should focus more on your personal narrative and your experiences with international relations.


Application Timeline

Essays should be submitted here. The timeline for submission to this year’s publication of The Local Lens is as follows. We strongly recommend that students submit their draft by the Review Deadline (April 20, 2025) in order to receive feedback before the Final Submission Deadline on April 30, 2025.

  • April 20, 2025: Review Deadline (last day to submit and receive feedback before final submission)

  • April 30, 2025: Final Submission Deadline

  • May 4, 2025: Decisions

  • May 18, 2025: Publication sent out to hundreds of schools, articles start to get posted on the GIRA Local website

Interest Form

If this sounds like something that your students might be interested in, please fill out this interest form. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know - you can either submit questions through the interest form or reach out directly to e.hu@modelun.org.

Disclaimer: All MUN photos used on the site come from DistrictMUN, our middle school Model UN conference, and NAIMUN, our affiliated high school conference.