Written by Peter Quinn-Jacobs, Associate Director of Operations
On Saturday and Sunday, jurors gathered at our labs in New York and DC to read student writing that was submitted to the Scholastic Writing Awards this fall. As part of our commitment to uplifting teen voices, Writopia has been a steadfast partner of the Scholastic Awards for over a decade. This year, we are responsible for reading and evaluating 5,344 written works by middle- and high-school students from San Francisco and Marin County, the Hudson to Housatonic region, and the DC Metro Area. That’s a lot of reading but we have a lot of help from our lovely community of over 150 volunteers—most of whom are writers, editors, librarians, and educators!
Over the weekend, we gathered in small groups to kick off the reading period, diving into panels of flash fiction, memoir, poetry, and other teen writing submitted to the awards. Attendees included published authors, librarians, book buyers, educators, and others, all dedicated to ensuring that young writers enjoy spotlights and medals alongside peer athletes, thespians, musicians, etc. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it and also to the rest of our jurors who continue to read from home! We couldn’t do it without you!