The Arlington Connection: Writopia Lab Brings the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards to D.C.

April 28, 2011

For the first time in 88 years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards came to the Washington metropolitan area on Friday, April 15 to acknowledge work by local students. The awards are administered nationally by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and locally by the new regional affiliate, Writopia Lab, with the help of the DC Area Writing Project.

Works are evaluated according to the following criteria: technical skill, and emergence of a personal voice. This year?s jurors included professional writers and DCPS teachers associated with the DC Writing Area Project. Sponsors for the program include: Eugene Profit, the founder of Profit Investment Management, Busboys and Poets and Charles P. Rogers.

Fourteen local students won National Writing Awards, 48-plus regional winners live or attend school in Alexandria including the two national winners. The regional award winners were chosen from submissions that include the District of Columbia; Montgomery County, Md.; Arlington County; Fairfax County, and the City of Alexandria.

"We are thrilled to bring the Scholastic Writing Awards to Greater Washington," said Kathy Crutcher, director of the Writopia Lab, at the ceremony. "Surprisingly, Washington D.C. had not had a local affiliate for this recognition program since 1990, and even then only for art. This meant that our creative teens had limited opportunities to be honored at a high level for their artistic abilities."

For more information visit http://www.writopialab.org/parenthetical/

Writing students that were regionally honored include: Noir Abdel-Ghani of Marshall High School, Munawwar Abdulla of Fairfax High School, Nathan Ammons of Oakton High School, Eli Auerhan of Thomas Jefferson High School, Olivia August of H-B Woodlawn, Luisa Banchoff of Washington-Lee High School, Julie Brooks of Washington-Lee High School, Anne Budway of H-B Woodlawn, Emily Cali of Robinson Secondary, Mircea Cernev of Thomas Jefferson High School, Danna Chavez Calvi of Falls Church High School, Samantha Clark of Langley High School, Meghan Coyle of Hayfield High School, Emily Crowe of Thomas Jefferson High School, Michael Crumplar of Thomas Jefferson High School, Jenny Davis of Yorktown High School, Araba Dennis of Lake Braddock Secondary, Samantha DeStefano of Thomas S. Wooton High School, Kateri Gajadhar of Gunston Middle School, Haley Hassell of St. Stephen?s & St. Agnes School, Julie Hirschorn of Edison High School, Lisa Junta of Thomas Jefferson High School, Tiffany Keung of Winston Churchill High School, Sarah Khan and Rachel Kim and Sung jin Kim and Elizabeth King of Thomas Jefferson High School, Hannah Kwon of Herndon High School, Nadia Laher of Lake Braddock Secondary, Nayan Lamba of Thomas Jefferson High School, Anna LeValley of H-B Woodlawn, Hall Libby of Thomas Jefferson High School, Maggie Lin Of Oakton High School, Lucia Liu and Ronit Malka of Thomas Jefferson High School, Marwan Lloyd of Nysmith School for the Gifted, Audrey Michels of The Madeira School, Andrea Mirviss of Winston Churchill High School, Vy-Anh Nguyen of Fairfax High School, Molly Norrbom of H-B Woodlawn, Macara Oshida of Woodson High School, Han Raut of Madison High School, Sierra Sanchez of Yorktown High School, Sara Suarez of Thomas Jefferson High School, Melissa Vasquez of H-B Woodlawn, Katherine Werner of Oakton High School, Amanda Whitehurst of Woodson High School and Amy and Angela Woolsey of Madison High School.

Just For Fun

Have a birthday? Party with us! Have your very own Writopia Lab Birthday Party.

Check out our online store and take a piece of Writopia Lab home with you!

Writopia Lab in the News

Our Mission

Writopia Lab fosters joy, literacy, and critical thinking in children and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.

We have never turned away a student whose family was unable to pay for workshops. Fifty percent of our students attend on either partial or full scholarships.

Learn more!