Three Montgomery County students are among the finalists of The New York Times’ ninth annual Student Editorial Contest.

The contest invites middle and high school students from around the world to write opinion pieces on any subject that is important to them, as long as their arguments are not longer than 450 words.

This year saw a record number of entries. There were a total of 16,664 submissions, which is higher than the previous year by nearly a third.

In order to carefully consider all of the submissions, 68 judges worked for two months and went through six rounds of reading to determine the 200-plus finalists.

Seventeen-year-old Owen Yu from The Haverford School in Haverford is one of the runners-up with his essay, “Crying: It’s a Human Thing.”

James Biglan, a seventeen-year-old student at Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, is among the honorable mentions with his essay, “Moving Forward, Together.”

Finally, fourteen-year-old Joshua Levinson, a student at Murray Avenue Middle School in Huntingdon Valley, also received an honorable mention for his work, “Do What’s Right: Make Our Future Bright.”

Read more about the winners of the contest in The New York Times.