This year 28 NA students across five grades earned a record 78 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in the following categories: critical essay, flash fiction, humor, journalism, personal essay/memoir, poetry, science fiction/fantasy, scriptwriting, short story and senior writing portfolio. Congratulations to the following students:
HONORABLE MENTION distinction, which shows “tremendous creative promise and places the student in the top 10 – 15% of the Northeast US region,” was awarded to: James Blume ’19 (2 Poetry), Young Se Choi ’18 (Humor, Personal Essay/Memoir), Kiran Damodaran ‘17 (2 Poetry), Mark Dempsey ’16 (Script), Maggie DeNoon ’16 (Script), Emma Hoffman ’16 (Script), Eva Lebovitz ’18 (Short Story), Josh Martin ‘16 (Short Story), Unnathy Nellutla ’19 (2 Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy), Gabrielle Poisson ’17 (Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Short Story), Jasmin Prophete ’20 (2 Poetry), Anne Ruble ’17 (Poetry), Ava Sharahy ’20 (Flash Fiction, 2 Short Story), Dean Tan ’18 (Personal Essay/Memoir), Valery Tarco ’16 (Poetry), Siddarth Tumu ’18 (Flash Fiction, Humor), Nick Wecal ’17 (Flash Fiction), Betsy Zaubler ’17 (Short Story) and Abbey Zhu ’18 (2 Poetry).
THE SILVER KEY AWARD, which indicates “high honors on the regional level and places students in the top 7 – 10% of their region,” was earned by Mark Berger ‘17 (Personal Essay/Memoir), Sanya Bery ’17 (Personal Essay/Memoir), James Blume ’19 (Personal Essay/Memoir), Young Se Choi ’18 (Short Story), Kiran Damodaran ’17 (Poetry), Maggie DeNoon ’16 (Personal Essay/Memoir), Nick He ’18 (Critical Essay), Emma Hoffman ’16 (Journalism), Eva Lebovitz ’18 (Personal Essay/Memoir, Poetry), Josh Martin ’16 (Poetry, Short Story), Elizabeth Merrigan ’16 (Personal Essay/Memoir, Senior Writing Portfolio), Mateo Moretti ’17 (Poetry), Anne Ruble ’17 (Personal Essay/Memoir, Poetry), Ava Sharahy ’20 (2 Flash Fiction, Poetry), Dean Tan ’18 (Flash Fiction, Science Fiction/Fantasy), Betsy Zaubler ’17 (Flash Fiction, Script), and Alena Zhang ’18 (Personal Essay/Memoir).
THE GOLD KEY AWARD, which is “the highest level of achievement on the regional level and places students in the top 5 – 7% of their region,” was earned by Sanya Bery ’17 (Poetry), James Blume ’19 (2 Poetry), Young Se Choi ’18 (Humor, Poetry), Kiran Damodaran ’17 (3 Poetry), Emma Hoffman ’16 (Personal Essay/Memoir, Poetry), Eva Lebovitz ‘18 (Poetry), James Marcucci ‘16 (Flash Fiction), Elizabeth Merrigan ’16 (Poetry), Gabrielle Poisson ’17 (Script), Jasmin Prophete ’20 (Short Story), Ava Sharahy ’20 (Flash Fiction), Dean Tan ’18 (Poetry), Lance Tan ’17 (2 Poetry), Mel Xiao ’18 (Poetry), Betsy Zaubler ’18 (Flash Fiction, Script) and Abbey Zhu ’18 (Personal Essay/Memoir).
Gold Key works will now be considered in national-level judging: In 2016 Scholastic received a record 320,000 entries, 20,000 (6%) of which earned Gold Keys. Approximately 5 – 7% of these will be selected for national recognition. In 2015, of over 255,000 works submitted to Scholastic, 2,000 (less than 1%) went on to receive National Medals. Good luck, Gold Key winners!