Here's to an Award-Winning 2017! We are pleased to announce our student, instructor, and organizational accomplishments of the past year. Please let us know if you would like us to add additional news in an upcoming newsletter.

	Student Awards & Publications Congratulations to all of our writers for their accomplishments! Thank you to Abby Coleman, Writopia's Submissions Coordinator, for researching opportunities for these writers and guiding them through the submissions process. Below are just some of our students' accomplishments this past year. Please email Abby@Writopialab.org if a piece you wrote at Writopia has been published in 2017! We will include it in our fall newsletter. Elena Debre (age 17) was named a 2017 National YoungArts Foundation merit winner for her short story "Night Lies" Stephanie Okun (age 16) had her essay "My Unsolicited Theories of Abuse" published in Teen Ink Abraham Weitzman (age 13) had his essay "Simply Speaking" published in Kid Spirit Abraham Weitzman (age 13) had his poem "Robinson Meets Vika" published in Teen Ink Abraham Weitzman (age 13) had his short story "Cocoa" published in Teen Ink Anastatia Bratescu (age 19) had her book of poems "Shattered Residue published" by hPublish Charlie Manzano age 11) had her short story "The Land of Ulaqebu" published in H.O.W. Jr. Alexandra Berman (age 12) had her short story "Prayers of a Lost Boy" published in H.O.W. Jr. GiGi Chen (age 11) had her short story "Grandmother's Woes and War" published in Kids4Kids Most Promising Writer Yainie Gallego (age 14) had her poem published in Teen Ink Kaia Wootton (age 10) had her poem "Anger" published in Smokelong Quarterly and in Alphabet Soup Stina Trollbäck (age 14) had her poem "Elasticity" published in Teen Ink Jeeya Ballaney (age 7) had her short story "Mr. MacaroonVoh" published in H.O.W. Jr. Isabelle Reinecke (age 10) had her essay published in WorldOceansDay.org. Writopia Publications Writopia's Litmags Writopia added a third publication this year! Our 10th Anniversary Anthology is stunning thanks to all of our Writopia contributors and staff members Abby Coleman, Sarah Park, and Lyndsay Hall. We also published our third issue of SURGE: The Zone's Teen Art & Literary Magazine, in partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital. To request copies for your home or school library, please email Sarahp@writopialab.org. To read student work now, check out the latest issue of our litmags! Our Staff The past year included big leaps forward for Writopia. We began workshops in Chicago and San Francisco, our outreach into underserved communities widened, and we continued to refine our tools for professional development, both internal and external. None of this would be possible without our nationwide team of full-time staff: Travon Anderson, Elsa Bermudez, Hannah Boysko, Peter Cohen, Alexandra Cohl, Abby Coleman, Jocquelyn Downs, Jan Edwards Hemming, Michaela Florio, Tom Flynn, Lyndsay Hall, Mason Henderson, Mikala Jamison, Scott Krier, Milana Meytes, Sarah Park, Rob Roy, Léna Roy, Yael Schick, Ethan Shafran Moltz, Sarah Shatan-Pardo, Danielle Sheeler, Madeline Taylor, Bianca Turetsky, Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Jeremy Wallace-Segall, and Janelle Williams Janelle Williams We welcomed instructor extraordinaire Janelle Williams to our full-time staff this year. Janelle started teaching with us a year ago and stood out immediately as a gifted, deeply caring instructor. She completed her MFA in January from Manhattanville College, and has since been running workshops on-site at our labs and throughout the city for underserved youth as part of our Joy and Literacy in After School funded by The Pinkerton Foundation. Bianca Turetsky ? We are so proud to announce the emergence of our Park Slope lab this year, and the highly skilled manager of that lab: author Bianca Turetsky! Bianca starting teaching with us a year ago and joined us full-time in the spring as the Brooklyn Regional Coordinator. We are so grateful to have her on board. Check out her book. Ethan Shafran Moltz ? We are proud of Writopia media associate Ethan Shafran Moltz! This year, Ethan has especially moved us by his vision and dedication to the production of our stunning 2017 Benefit Video that he co-produced with Writopia's Scott Krier and Chelsea Grasso. Ethan also co-produced a Writopia film festival for preschoolers this year with program director Yael Schick and he produced the 2017 Writopia Film Festival for our young and teen filmmakers. Ethan's students have been featured as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016 and 2017. Ethan has inspired us for four years with his energy and know-how, and especially with his passionate investment in the well-being of all of his students. Look out for his upcoming Writopia films: How to Support Your Writer and Welcome to Writopia! Instructor Awards & Publications Michael Alessi's work was published or is forthcoming in Passages North, The Minnesota Review, The Pinch, and Paper Darts, and he staged readings at Uncharted Books in Chicago and a release event for The Pinch in Memphis Chad Anderson's short story, "Maidencane", was awarded the Nimrod International Journal's Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction (1st Place) Tricia Aurand's play, NICAEA, was produced as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival Cathleen Bell's collaborative novel, Weregirl, was published by Chooseco Hannah Boysko's poetry and visuals were published in Femme Mâché Jessica Cluess' novel, A Shadow Bright and Burning, was published by Random House Alexandra Cohl's short piece, "From Where She Watches", was published in Luna Luna Jessica Dall's novel, Book 2 of the Order and Chaos Series: Graven Idols, was published by Red Adept Publishing Jocquelyn Downs and Danielle Sheeler had a staged reading of their one-act play, Pay, at Theater Lab Amy Dupcak's collection of short stories, Dust, was published by Lucid River Press, and she signed with Janklow & Nesbit for her debut novel Janet Edwards Hemming's essay, "Proof," was published in the Los Angeles Review of Books Blog, and she has poems forthcoming in Fail Better and Scalawag Lyndsay Hall's essay, "A Saline Solution," was published in Little Fiction \| Big Truths, and her essay, "Finding Adam," was published in b(OINK) Corey Haydu's fourth YA novel, The Careful Undressing of Love, was published by Penguin, and her second middle grade novel, The Someday Suitcase, comes out from HarperCollins on June 27th Gregory Luce's poetry was published in Deaf Poets Society and Pre-Existing Poems, his poetry won the Arlington Moving Words competition for display on ART buses, and he was a featured poet for the DC Poet Project Sagit Maier-Schwartz's short piece, "Ingenue", was published in Hollywood Dementia Kathleen McCleary wrote a series of cover stories for Parade magazine, and contributed non-fiction work to Houzz.com Catya McMullen's play, AGNES, was produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, her musical L.U.B. had an extended run at the People's Improv Theater, and several of her short works were produced at Ensemble Studio Theater Sheila McMullin's book of poetry, daughterrarium, was published as the winner of the 2016 CSU Poetry Center First Book Award Anna Potter's essay, "The Body in Motion," was published in Phoebe and received a Pushcart Prize nomination Dania Ramos' play was performed by Speranza Theatre Company's production of Women Rising: Stories of Hope Léna Roy co-authored Becoming Madeleine L'Engle - a Biography, due out in February, 2018 by by FSG Alexa Salvato's poem "eulogy for my stomach at its flattest" was published in States of Mind Courtney Sheinmel had five books published for emerging and young readers, including Agnes & Clarabelle, The Kindness Club: Chloe on the Bright Side, and the 10th book in her Stella Batts series: Broken Birthday Anisha Sridhar won the Tribeca Film Institute's Prototype Fund Award for her interactive webseries, Rearview Mirror, to begin production this fall Gina Stevensen placed in the 2017 international Jewish Playwriting Contest for her play Book of Esther Brigit Young's essay, "The Empty Vessel: A Dissection of the Worth of Madness and Its Cure in Shirley Jackson's The Bird's Nest," was published in Modern Language Studies, and her middle grade novel, A Thousand Words, will be published by Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan in 2018 Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Yael Schick, and Danielle Sheeler had a staged reading of their play, Sadie Fishbein the Musical, at Theater Lab For their support of the Scholastic Writing Awards' national medalists in 2017, Anu Amaran, Rachel Barclay, Alexandra Cohl, Melissa Marino, Donna Miele, Michael Piel, Léna Roy, Yael Schick, and Danielle Sheeler were recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers as outstanding instructors. Writopia's National Write-In Writopia's National Write-In On April 23rd we held our first annual National Write-In, a six-hour event held at Writopia's labs across the country in Manhattan, Westchester, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. during which hundreds of young writers wrote continuously for the entire day with breaks only to eat pizza, have a speak with a widely published, local author. "It was my favorite day of the year," said Sylvia, age 12.	2017 Scholastic Awards Congratulations to all of Writopia Lab’s writers from across the country who submitted work to the 2017 Scholastic Writing Awards. Altogether, Writopians received 331 regional awards. In addition, we congratulate the following Writopians who received National Awards recognition in 2017: Estelle Anderson (Gold Medal for Short Story) Madison Aubey (Gold Medal for Poetry) Tamsyn Brann (Gold Medal for Journalism) Elizabeth Cui (American Voices Medal for Short Story) Jordan Ferdman (Gold Medal for Short Story) Beatrice Forman (Gold Medal for Flash Fiction) Sam Harris (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Ali Levinson (Silver Medal for Poetry) Kaley Mamo (Gold Medal and Best In Grade Award for Flash Fiction) Kaley Mamo (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Lily O'Donnell (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Lindsay Pierce (RBC Flaunt It Award Scholarship for Personal Essay/Memoir) Joyana Rosenthal (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Ellie Rostan (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Gary Sowder (Silver Medal for Dramatic Script) Anna Strosser (Silver Medal for Poetry) Gabrielle Sussman (Gold Medal for Personal Essay/Memoir) Lucy Sydel (Gold Medal for Dramatic Script) Christina Wang (Gold Medal for Short Story) Ibby Weber (Silver Medal for Poetry) Christina Weiler (Gold Medal for Poetry) Christina Weiler (Gold Medal for Poetry) Juliana Yu (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Juliana Yu (Silver Medal for Critical Essay) College Essay Successes ? Congratulations to our college essay writers. In 2017, they earned admissions to these schools and many others: Barnard, Bates, Beloit, Bennington, Binghampton, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Brown, Bucknell, Case Western, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emerson, Gettysburg, Goucher, Hampshire, Harvard, Hofstra, Kenyon, Lafayette, Lake Forest College, Lehigh, Lewis & Clark, Lipscomb, MIT, Northeastern, NYU, Oberlin, Pittsburgh, Rensselaer, Rutgers, Sarah Lawrence, School of Visual Arts, Smith, Stanford, SUNY Old Westbury, Tufts, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UConn, UDenver, UMaine, UNC, Union College, UPenn, URI, USC, UVermont, Virginia Tech, Washington U, Wellesley, William & Mary, York College Bereavement Workshops Bereavement workshop in Washington, D.C. This past fall, Writopia's Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York Metro North regions conducted grant-funded bereavement workshops at local, underserved high schools. Jan Edwards Hemming, Lyndsay Hall, Mason Henderson, Mikala Jamison, and Léna Roy, using guided Writopia prompts and open discussions, helped high school students explore their experiences with grief through fiction, poetry, and personal essays. On their closing evaluations, students shared: “I got to express myself in my journal...and learned to talk from the heart. I want to give millions of thanks!!” and another shared, “I want to thank you for giving believing I am capable of achieving great things. We are thrilled to announce that 10 of these writers won Scholastic Awards for their pieces. VSA Conference Jocquelyn Downs and Léna Roy Shoutout to the heads of our D.C. and Westchester offices, Jocquelyn Downs and Léna Roy, as they head to Austin, Texas, in August to run a panel at the VSA Intersections: Arts and Special Education Conference on “Empowerment through writing for the stage: Utilizing theater exercises to engage students with emotional/ behavioral disorders”! Quito, Ecuador Teen & Alumni Residency & Service Program in Quito, Ecuador Congratulations to Yael Schick and Danielle Sheeler, Writopia's national program directors, for designing and running our first international program, and to Mason Henderson, D.C. Program Coordinator, for helping them make it such a success! In December, 2016, Writopia traveled to Quito, Ecuador for its Teen & Alumni Residency & Service Program, in partnership with For His Children Orphanage. “Writopia was the best program of the year,” says the orphanage director, Jen Schneider, in Quito, Ecuador. ESPI ESPI participants at Writopia Writopia began a partnership with the Exam Schools Partnership Initiative (ESPI) last summer, spearheaded by Writopia's Program Director, Danielle Sheeler. Each summer, we enroll 24 ESPI writers, helping them develop the tools and confidence to succeed in highly selective NYC public high schools. ESPI brings free academic and cultural enrichment to gifted students from low-income elementary and middle schools. It is a multi-year program created to address additional needs of young, gifted students who have the talents to thrive at New York City’s elite public “Exam Schools,” such as Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Hunter College High School. WritopiaMentors Pass the Baton WritopiaMentors workshops in Ithaca, NY For the past three years, college students at Ithaca College have provided Writopia programming to underserved teen writers in their local community through the WritopiaMentors program. WritopiaMentors are college students who have completed summer or school year internships at one of our main labs and who wish to obtain further training and support over Skype from Writopia head instructors in order to successfully run free writing workshops to youths in their area. We are so happy to report that students of mentors Alexa Salvato and Amanda Livingston, who trained at Writopia's Westchester, NY, labs, were published this year in Writopia's litmags and won Scholastic Awards recognition. Alexa and Amanda are graduating, and we're proud that a new group of Writopia interns, led by the Upper West Side lab's Erika Walsh, will continue their work in Ithaca this fall. 10th Anniversary Gala Benefit Hamilton's Renée Elise Goldsberry at Writopia's 10th Anniversary Gala Thank you to Writopia's Board of Directors, especially Kim Hartman, David Sherman, and Candice Braun, and to all who made our 10th anniversary gala so incredibly special and successful. Because of you, we are able to run high-touch, high-impact programs at schools like Sojourner Truth Public School 149 in Harlem. At Sojourner, Writopia provides support each week for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th graders. A recent New York Times article "Harlem Schools Are Left to Fail as Those Not Far Away Thrive" sheds light on the support this and other schools in Harlem need. We are also proud to report that Writopia was able to provide $80,000 in scholarships to 40% of our sleepaway campers this summer, including one writer we have been working with for five years at a Homes for the Homeless shelter. Since Rebecca Wallace-Segall founded Writopia as a nonprofit 10 years ago, we haven't turned away one family due to an inability to pay. We're able to provide ongoing support to thousands of low income youths around the country at our labs, in schools, at homeless shelters, in treatment facilities, and in hospitals because of the support of our partner foundations, individual donors, and full-paying families. We raised nearly half a million dollars on April 5, 2017 at our benefit to ensure the continuation of our work with these worthy and wonderful writers. We are looking forward to another decade of fun and meaningful transformative work.

Here's to an Award-Winning 2016!

We are pleased to announce our student, instructor, and organizational accomplishments of the past year!

Senior Spotlight!	Student Awards & Publications Congratulations to our writers for these accomplishments. Thank you to Abby Coleman, Writopia Lab's Submissions Coordinator, for researching opportunities for these writers and guiding them through the submissions process. Estelle Anderson (age 11) was awarded Honorable Mention by Stone Soup for her piece "Marker." Sadie Antrim (age 13) had her poems "Faded," "New Life," and "Family" published in Teen Ink, and was awarded Teen Ink Editor’s Choice Award for her poem "Faded." Malahni Banta (age 18) contributed to Quiet Diaries, as part of Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution. Madeleine Berkowitz (age 10) had her short story "The Natives" published in Amazing Kids! Magazine. Annie Braun (age 12) had her piece "Frogs" published in Magic Dragon. Jack Braun (age 14) had his poem "tongue-tied" published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2015 National Catalog. Susanna Brustin (age 15) had her piece "Finitzo Scores with Documentary 'In the Game'" published in Teen Voices at Women's ENews. Rachel Calnek-Sugin (age 19) had her poem "Letter to My Boy-Man" published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' The Best Teen Writing of 2015. Emma Clayton (age 14) was awarded by The Library of Congress 2016 Letters About Literature Contest. Isabel Considine Hogben (age 8) was awarded as a Top 10 Runner-Up in the The Legacy Project's Listen to a Life Contest. Alex D. (age 18) had his poem “Explanation” published in Teen Ink. Elena DeBre (age 16) had her short story "Night Lies" published in The Claremont Review. Diego Delmont (age 11) was featured by DNAinfo for his protest speech at the DOE Hundreds Rally. Madeleine Dreiband (age 15) was a state finalist in the Maryland Letters from Literature competition for her letter to Harper Lee. Bret Glasser (age 7) had her piece “The Wind” published in Amazing Kids! Magazine. Cali Greenbaum (age 14) had her piece "Reflection" published in Parallel Ink. Daisy Gumin (age 18) contributed to Quiet Diaries, as part of Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution. Annelie Hyatt (age 12) contributed to Quiet Diaries, as part of Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution. Raya Kenney (age 14) was awarded by The Library of Congress 2016 Letters About Literature Contest. Juliette Krevat (age 11) was awarded by The Library of Congress 2016 Letters About Literature Contest. Lily Krug (age 14) had her poem “Stereotypes” published in The American Library of Poetry's 2016 Eloquence Poetry Collection. Sylvie Liss (age 11) was selected for the Skipping Stones Magazine: 2015 Youth Honor Awards. Ava Lucarelli (age 10) had her poem "If I Could Fly" published in H.O.W. Jr. Kaley Mamo (age 16) contributed to Quiet Diaries, as part of Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution. Bryan Martinez (age 19) was awarded First Prize by the Shine the Light in Harlem Poetry Contest for his piece "The Enchantment of the Night's Light." Hannah Mayerfield (age 10) had her piece "Rainbow in the Sun" published in Stone Soup. Arjun Mazumdar (age 13) was published in Skipping Stones, and his poetry collection Before I Allowed Myself; Sometimes; Small Functions Imagined Too Late was published in H.O.W. Jr. Malina Nelson (age 14) had her short story "Paper Cranes" published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2015 National Catalog, and in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' The Best Teen Writing of 2015. Natalie Panitkin (age 11) had her poetry published by The American Library of Poetry. Noah Phillips (age 13) had his poem “A Void in My Life” published in Creative Communication: What Is Important To Me Summer 2015. Isabelle Pierce (age 16) was awarded 2nd place in The Palace Theatre’s 2016 Ernie DiMattia Emerging Young Artist Scholarship Awards for playwrights, for her play The Bedroom. Anna Polin (age 11) was selected for the BHUSD Winners of Reflection Contest 2015-16. Joe Polsky (age 18) had his poem "The Peach Pit" published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' The Best Teen Writing of 2015. Nicole Porat (age 8) had her piece "The Sea" published in Magic Dragon Magazine. Ellie Prusko (age 16) had her fiction piece "Yet Another One" selected for publication in Hypernova Lit. Chloe Rees (age 17) had her piece "Teen Plays with Identity Brand by Brand" published in Teen Voices at Women's ENews. Lydia Schultz (age 13) had her piece "Evan" published in Teen Ink. Marriya Schwarz (age 18) had her essay "From Your Friendly Neighborhood Feminist" published in Teen Voices, and had her essay "Girl Fan to Comic Book Industry: 'Do More' for Women" published in Teen Voices at Women's ENews. Manavi Sinha (age 13) had her piece "Landline" published in Teen Ink. Awa Soumahoro (age 18) had her thought piece "Too Young To Wed" published in Women's Enews. Johnathan Stimpson (age 16) had his essay "Criminally Unjust: A Tale of Two Justice Systems" published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2015 National Catalog. Anna Strosser (age 17) had her poem "Mother" published in Teen Ink online, and it is forthcoming in the print edition of Teen Ink, and was awarded First Place by the Danbury Cultural Commission Poetry Contest for her poem "My Days with You and Crystal Voodoo." Stina Trollback (age 15) was awarded the Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Prize - First Place Winner for Prose Brooklyn Public Library’s 2016 Teen Writing Contest, for her piece "Zeroed Out." Jackie Weymouth (age 15) won the Parkmont Poetry Competition for her poem "The Fallen Man." Emma Yang (age 12) contributed to Quiet Diaries, as part of Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution. Charley Zinn (age 11) had her poem “What Am I?” published in Creative Kids, and had an excerpt from her fiction piece "Blazing Stones" published in Amazing Kids! Magazine. Gertie-Pearl Zwick-Schachter (age 11) had her poem “A Moment” published in Stone Soup, and was awarded in The Best of KidSpirit Online, Vol. IV. for her poem “Pure Love.” Scholastic Awards Congratulations to all of Writopia Lab’s writers from across the country who submitted work to the 2016 Scholastic Writing Awards. Altogether, 188 Writopians received 504 regional awards, including four American Voices Nominations. In addition, we congratulate the following Writopians who received National Awards recognition for their writing in 2016: Hannah Ahn (Gold Medal for Personal Essay/Memoir) Claire Annino (Gold Medal for Flash Fiction) Jack Braun (Silver Medal for Dramatic Script) Daniel Bring (Silver Medal for Short Story) Emma Choi (Silver Medal for Short Story) Emma Choi (American Voices Medal for Poetry) William Choi (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Amanda Cronin (Silver Medal for Short Story) Laura Glesby (Gold Medal for Poetry) Ashton (Unity) Haq (Silver Medal for Poetry) Noah Hoyle (National Gold Key & Silver Medal for Novel Writing) Colette Juran (Gold Medal for Critical Essay) Kaley Mamo (Gold Medal for Flash Fiction) Addie Model (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Sophie Nadel (Silver Medal for Flash Fiction) Malina Nelson (Silver Medal for Short Story) Clara Nevins (Silver Medal for Dramatic Script) Miyu Nishio (Silver Medal for Digital Art) Ellie Prusko (National Gold Key for Novel Writing) Hannah Reale (Silver Medal for Poetry) Erin Sakar (Gold Medal for Personal Essay/Memoir) Aaron Saliman (Gold Medal for Short Story) Aaron Saliman (Gold Medal for Flash Fiction) Maddie Smyth (Silver Medal for Poetry) Abigail Sylvor Greenberg (Gold Medal for Poetry) Abigail Sylvor Greenberg (Gold Medal for Poetry) Abigail Sylvor Greenberg (Silver Medal for Short Story) Annalee Tai (Gold Medal for Poetry) Anna Thompson (Silver Medal for Short Story) Christina Wang (Silver Medal for Short Story) Juliana Yu (Gold Medal and Best In Grade for Short Story) Callie Zola (Gold Medal for Critical Essay)
Awa Soumahoro, 18, moved to New York City from Ivory Coast in September 2013. She arrived at Dan Kitrosser's Writopia workshop some months later as a French speaker still in the process of learning English. Awa learned to write and speak among her prolific peers and was soon writing stunning poetry and thought pieces. Last year, Awa was invited to join our Write to Recognition scholarship program, funded by the Pinkerton Foundation, which allows Writopia's 50 most dedicated scholarship writers to attend workshops and receive private sessions throughout the entire school year at no cost. Awa's hard work has paid off: she performed her poetry at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, at Barnes & Noble, and at Theaterlab, and had the honor of having her powerful first thought piece, "Too Young To Wed," published in our partner publication, Women's Enews. This fall, Awa will be a freshman at Brandeis University's Myra Kraft Program. Kai Williams, 18, joined Writopia in 2009 when she was 11, and has worked with YA author Courtney Sheinmel every Tuesday afternoon since. Kai is a ten-time Scholastic award winner. In 2014, she won Best Dramatic Play at Writopia’s Worldwide Plays Festival. Her work was selected for publication in Pushing Past Limits, a young writers anthology. She is a 2015 National Young Arts Foundation finalist, and was published in the National Arts Foundation’s 2015 anthology. In 2015, a senior editor at Penguin Random House chose Kai as a Writopia “Fiction Fellow,” a program that recognizes our most dedicated, prolific, and talented junior and senior writers. In addition to writing, Kai is passionate about theater. She is the co-founder of th the Eat At The Table Theatre Company (E.A.T.T.), a New York City-based non-profit theater company featuring a cast of all person of color youth. This fall, Kai will be a freshman at Weslayan University. Joe Polsky, 18, arrived at Writopia in its founding year, 2007, in search of a writing community. He landed in Rebecca Wallace-Segall’s first workshop for nine-year-olds in the original Writopia space--her studio apartment. Nine years later, Joe is now a leader in the community, having supported young writers as an intern at Writopia throughout high school. Joe’s dedication to his craft has earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious 2015 American Voices National Medal for his prodigious poetry. His poem “The Peach Pit” was in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ The Best Teen Writing of 2015 national anthology. This fall, Joe will be a freshman at Pomona College. Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors for dedicating your high school years to thinking and writing and innovating. We wish you all many more satisfying years ahead!
College Essay Successes In 2016, our college essay writers again earned admissions to top schools. Congratulations to our college essay writers listed here, and to our many others: Katie Abbott, TCU Charles Allen, Wesleyan Cameron Bailey Young, Hampton U Ben Browning, Wesleyan Ivory Butler, Sarah Lawrence Miles Cohen, Oberlin John Craig, Marist Michael DeFelice, UVA Julia DiLauro, Chapman Antonio Frato, NYU Charis Gee, Azusa Pacific David Gee, Cornell Hayley Gruenspan, U Chicago Jane Herz, Wake Forest U Natalie Hwang, Tufts, UMD, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin Aldo Kaczmarkiewicz, Ithaca Emilia Kaczmarkiewicz, Boston U Roma Kaczmarkiewicz, American U Theo Levine, Tufts, Wesleyan, UCLA, Michigan David Liston, Berkeley Cameron Loadwick, DePaul Sophie McNulty, Stanford, Harvard, Yale Nico Miller, Northwestern Naomi Nesher, SUNY Purchase Bella Orbaton, Cornish Joe Polsky, Pomona Julia Reczek, George Washington Jillian Rogers, Stanford (early) Ben Rosof, Michigan Rachel Saunders, Brandeis Awa Soumahoro, Brandeis (full scholarship) Amelia Sylvor Greenberg, Maryland Institute College of Art, Bennington, Hampshire, SUNY Purchase, School at the Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Art Institute Annalee Tai, Williams, Brown, Columbia, Vassar Christian Taylor, Full Sail Mani Tolkow, Savannah College of Art & Design (early) Quintessa Valez, Hampshire College Luke Wallis, Haverford College Jenna Weingarten, UPenn (early) Kai Williams, Wesleyan Halle Young, Tulane (early) Writopia Lab Training Institute Thanks to the Pinkerton Foundation, Writopia launched the Writopia Lab Training Institute in 2016. We have since partnered with many public and private schools and community-based organizations in New York City and Washington D.C. to share our most effective methods with hundreds of classroom teachers and after school education directors. Our mission is to give classroom teachers and after-school educators instructional tools to help their students. Because of the Writopia Lab Training Institute, Writopia's 3rd and 4th grade curricula, Creative Writing Instruction Handbook for grades 2 to 12, and other free Writopia resources, are available to educators by application. Our Instructors Michael Alessi had his short story "Goshen Pass" selected as the winner of the The Pinch's 2016 Literary Award for Fiction, and had his poetry and fiction published in Rust + Moth, Gigantic Sequins, decomP, and The Journal for Compressed Creative Arts. Anu Amaran received a 2015 Pushcart Prize nomination in poetry, and has had her poetry and translations published or forthcoming in The Bitter Oleander, The Front Porch Revie, Waxwing, Drunken Boat, and Numero Cinq Magazine. Kira Beilis had her third suspense novel, Die Again Tomorrow, published by Kensington Books, and she had three feature articles published by the New York Times and Newsweek. Jessica Dall had her YA fantasy novel Raining Embers published by Red Adept Publishing. Lyndsay Hall has two poems forthcoming in The Avalon Literary Review, and will be attending the Bread Loaf conference in Sicily this coming September. Molly Haas-Hooven wrote the text for Theatre Uzume's dance-play production of Lamia, which ran this spring and will be part of the 2016 International Fringe Festival, and she wrote a play for Tristmas!, a night of plays, songs, funny Christmas-themed things. Jerron Herman performed for Heidi Latsky Dance's presentation of ON DISPLAY & Somewhere, showcasing disability in dance. Veera Hiranandani sold her new middle-grade novel, The Night Diary, to Penguin's Dial imprint. Melanie Howard received a full tuition scholarship to the 44th Santa Barbara Writer's Conference for her winning fiction piece, "Welcome to the Seventies." Natalie Lima became a 2016 PEN Emerging Voices fellow. Sarah Darer Littman has two new books coming out in 2016: Charmed, I'm Sure (Simon & Schuster), and In Case You Missed It (Scholastic Press), and her novel Backlash was nominated for a Children’s Choice Book Award and was included on the International Literacy Association Young Adult Choices 2016 Reading List. Kathleen McCleary wrote multiple feature stories for PARADE magazine, including cover stories on Presidential Libraries, the Electoral College, and the upcoming Olympic games; and she was chosen as one of Arlington Magazine's notable authors in their annual "Best of Arlington" issue. Jessica McHugh had her novel Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven picked up by horror publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press for publication in 2017, she had the 4th book in her YA series, the Darla Decker Diaries, released in April by Evolved Publishing, and the 5th book will be out in late 2016. Kyle Metzger directed Twelfth Night with The Glass Eye Theater Company as part of the Access Theater Association Series. Donna Miele and Anu Amaran, through their literary journal River River, hosted a series of Pop-Up Poetry Cafes featuring poets Richard Jackson, Robert Vivian, and Mary Kim Arnold. Alexa Salvato had her article "Raising Feminists, One Writing Workshop at a Time" published in Ms. Magazine Blog, had her short fiction "Leaving Eden" published in River River, and had poems published in Chronogram and Stillwater Magazine. Michelle Schusterman had her middle-grade series picked up for two books by Disney-Hyperion, the first slated for a fall 2017 release. Brian Sonia-Wallace performed in Ad Lit Lab, an experiment in improv and poetry. Taylor Sykes had her fiction piece "Nightingale and Swallow" published in Luna Luna Magazine, she has a poem forthcoming in Unrequited: An Anthology of Love Poems About Inanimate Objects, and she was accepted to the MFA program at North Caroline State University. Cory Tamler had her essay "Break the Loop" and her fiction "Stillborn" published in The Offing, translated a monologue by Bosnian playwright Tanja Sljivar for The Offing, had a memoir piece published in Extended Play, contributed work to The Civilians theater company's "The Way They Live", and took part in a month-long writing residency aboard an oceanography research vessel circling Palau. Jon Zimmerman had articles published in Thrillist and Bevvy, created a three-episode game for Pocket Gems Episode platform, saw his feature script Lean Back voted onto Tracking Board's annual list of best unproduced screenplays, and had his sitcom pilot Passing Through enter development with Level One Entertainment. For their support of the Scholastic Writing Awards' national medalists in 2016, Anu Amaran, Jessica Cluess, Mason Henderson, Dan Kitrosser, Kathleen McCleary, Jessica McHugh, Léna Roy, Alexa Salvato, Yael Schick, Danielle Sheeler, and Rebecca Wallace-Segall were recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers as outstanding instructors. Worldwide Plays Festival Following the retirement of David Letterman, Writopia Lab’s Off-Broadway Worldwide Plays Festival secured new funding from three individual donors—Kim Hartman, David Sherman, and Steve Greenberg—for its week of plays, films, musicals, and spoken word written by playwrights and poets ages 6 to 18. Due to their generosity, 2016 the Festival prevailed, including plays written in workshops at Writopia’s labs across the country and plays submitted to our competition from playwrights around the world! This year, we challenged our playwrights to push the limits of their plays, both thematically and theatrically. The result has been a diverse roster of comedies, tragedies, and everything in between, dealing with issues of race, class, sexuality, gender identity, the education system, and more.