{"id":599,"date":"2025-02-19T11:21:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T16:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/?p=599"},"modified":"2025-12-23T09:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T14:38:15","slug":"celebrating-scholastic-award-winning-writopians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/celebrating-scholastic-award-winning-writopians\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Scholastic Award-Winning Writopians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Lena Roy, Director of Teen Programs, and Peter Quinn-Jacobs, Associate Director of Operations<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LENA: Scholastic season may be over, and sure we\u2019ve all rolled up our sleeves and gotten back to work, but as writers, we also need to celebrate when we can. We celebrate the fact that we submitted at all. It\u2019s lovely to be recognized of course, but more important is claiming our seats as writers in the spirit of community rather than competition. I\u2019m here with my esteemed colleague Peter Quinn-Jacobs, who wears many hats including heading up our Writopia Scholastic team. As our representative affiliate for the awards, he is in charge of overseeing multiple areas including adjudication for the DC Metro Area, and ceremonies in DC and NYC\u2019s Northern suburbs, the H2H region. He is also integral to the inner workings of Writopia as a whole! But back to Scholastic —  Peter, we have some celebrations coming up, don’t we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETER: Why yes Lena, we do indeed! We\u2019ll be celebrating teen writing in my hometown of Washington DC on Sunday, March 9th, and then I\u2019ll be traveling to Westchester for the ceremony in your neck of the woods. I\u2019m excited! It\u2019s a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LENA: We encourage our teen Writopians to practice submitting their writing, and Scholastic is a great way to do that. It\u2019s an opportunity to put ourselves out there! After all, we apply to all sorts of things as we grow — summer programs, colleges, jobs — so tell me Peter, what was Writopia representation like this year at the Scholastic Awards?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETER: I am super proud of all of our Writopians who submitted this year. Over sixty of our writers earned recognition, many of them winning multiple awards! Some received honorable mentions, some received silver keys, and more than twenty received Gold Keys\u2014 including four senior portfolios!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LENA: Yes! Seniors Sophia Alvarez, Arava Chaiken, Sydney Davis, and Tara Prakash all received Gold Keys for their Portfolios! And what about American Voice Nominations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETER: Oh right! American Voice Nominations are extremely competitive, with only five works being chosen from each region being chosen among thousands of submissions. This year, two Writopians have the honor of their work receiving a nomination. Tara Prakash from DC and Mia Bornstein from the H2H region each had a piece selected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LENA: I know both of them worked so hard on those pieces. Being nominated is huge by itself! We\u2019re so thrilled for all our writers who completed pieces, revised, and put themselves out there this year in various writing recognition programs. Onward and upward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writopians Represent! <\/strong>(If you received an award and you are not listed here, please let us know!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SENIOR PORTFOLIOS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n