April 17, 2019

AMS 2019 Scholastic Writing Award Winners

AMS Scholastic Writing

Two Ames Middle School students earned 2019 Scholastic Awards for their outstanding written pieces. Leslie Kim’s sci-fi short story Fallen by One, and Jennifer Newman’s short story The Pianist were selected by some of the foremost leaders in the visual and literary arts for excellence in originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.

Nearly 340,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the 2019 Scholastic Awards. Since 1923, the Awards have celebrated teen artists and writers from across the country. Notable winners have included artists Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, and Kay WalkingStick; writers Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, and Joyce Carol Oates; and filmmakers Lena Dunham and Ken Burns.

Leslie Kim earned a Best in Grade award, meaning that out of 35,000 entries across the nation, she was selected as the best piece of writing. Jennifer Newman was a national silver medalist. Receiving a National Medal placed Leslie and Jennifer within the top 1% of all submissions and a chance to travel to New York City and Carnegie Hall. Leslie was also awarded money to use to support her craft.

As National Medalists, Scholastic will publish their work in an online gallery at artandwriting.org in June. Their names will also be listed in the 2019 Yearbook, a companion publication to The Best Teen Art and The Best Teen Writing anthologies. You can read the stories by clicking on the links below:

“Fallen One” by Leslie Kim

“The Pianist” by Jennifer Newman