2010 Scholastic Writing Awards

FIRST: Over 80 works submitted by Writopia's middle and high school students received regional awards in the following cities: New York City; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles.
THEN: 15 of those works were honored on the national level at Carnegie Hall last week.
AND FINALLY: Two pieces were requested to be published in Scholastic publications!

Highlights from New York City:

Lena Beckenstein, 16, won a National Gold Medal, the National Constitution Center's Creativity and Citizenship Award, and a $1,000 scholarship!

Michael Gellman, 16, won a National Gold Medal and was the closing speaker at the 2010 Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall! (He was invited to be published in one of Scholastic's publications but declined.)

Peter Cohen, 17, won a Silver Medal for his senior portfolio.

Dalia Wolfson, 16, won two National Gold Medals.

Emma Goldberg, 15, won two National Silver Medals.

Riley Pearsall, 13, won a National Gold Medal.

Izzy Udo, 14, won a National Gold Medal.

Abigail Savitch-Lew, 17, won a Gold Medal.

Charlotte Ahlin, 16, won a Gold Medal.

Welcome Writopia Lab LA and DC to the Scholastic Awards!

These two budding regions pulled in four national medals:

Los Angeles: Sam Schlesinger, 13, won two Gold National Medals and was published in Spark: Young Visions and Voices (a collection of Best Middle School writing)!

Washingon, DC: Naomi Shroff-Mehta, 14, won a National Gold Medal.

Washington, DC: Sydney Collins, 13, won a National Silver Medal.

Random House's 2010 Creative Writing Contest for High School Seniors

Sam Levine, 17, won second place and a $5,000 Scholarship! He was also published in their annual anthology of award-winning teen writing. (Sam also won a Scholastic regional gold key for his senior portfolio for other writings.)

2010 Young Playwrights "Write a Play!" NYC Festival

Three of our students won Best Play (three "Best Play" awards are honored per age group) and one won an Honorable Mention:

Middle School Division, Best Play:Serena Alagappan, 12

Middle School Division, Honorable Mention: Priscilla Guo, 13

Elementary School Division, Best Play: Jenny Richards, 10

Elementary Division, Best Play: Claudia Yanos, 10

And a play by two Writopia students, "Tuna Casserole...with a Hint of Orange," was a finalist in the Young Playwrights National Festival:

Jane Herz, 11 and Serena Alagappan, 12

June Publications

The following students were published recently or this month.

Stone Soup: Serena Alagappan, 12. Check out the upcoming issue!

Imagine Magazine: Dalia Wolfson, 16. Her piece "Vault Forward" won 1st place in the magazine's creative minds nonfiction contest and her piece "Aflight" received honorable mention in the same magazine's fiction contest.

Spark: Sam Schlesinger, 13. Check out Scholastic's collection of Best Middle School writing!