What started in 1923 as a humble writing competition by Scholastic - with six winners who won $5 prizes - has since become the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (http://www.artandwriting.org/the-awards/), with more than 90,000 seventh through twelfth graders nationwide submitting more than 185,000 works of art and writing in 28 categories, and winning on both the regional and national levels.

Now presented by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the annual Awards have been a mainstay for D-E students in recent years, and 2014 is no exception. Of our nine Regional winners this year - including one Middle Schooler - we also have three National Gold or Silver Medal awardees, whose Gold Key works were reviewed by artistic and literary professionals for National Medal recognition, announced just this week:

Kianna Gonzalez '15 - Silver Medal and Gold Key, Sculpture: "All Souls Go to Heaven"

Alana Solin '14 - Gold Medal and Gold Key, Poetry: "Serena, Trap God, Yellowed Elevator, Another Night in the Ruins"; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Michelle Yu '18 - Gold Medal and Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir: "Lonely in the Night"

These Medalists will receive their medals during the Awards' National Events in New York City in early June.

Here are our other Regional winners:

For Art:

Jason Chang '14 - Honorable Mention

Bryan Rubin '14 - Gold Key, Silver Key, two Honorable Mentions

Shitian Wang '15 - Honorable Mention

For Writing:

Julia Bront '15 - Gold Key, Silver Key and an Honorable Mention, all in Poetry

Phoebe Mattana '14 - Honorable Mention, Flash Fiction

Lisa Mordkovich '15 - 3 Silver Keys and 2 Honorable Mentions, Poetry; Silver Key, Short Story

Our winners now join the ranks of such American artists and writers as Truman Capote (1932), Richard Avedon (1941), Andy Warhol (ca. 1945), Sylvia Plath (1947), Robert Redford (1954) and Zac Posen (1998) - all of whom were high schoolers when they were awarded.

Congratulations to all - we are so proud of you and your award-winning masterpieces!