Delaware Students Earn Prestigious National Writing Awards

Fourteen Delaware students are now in the company of artists and writers like Andy Warhol, Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates — each is a national award recipient of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

The awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for young artists and writers in grades 7–12. This year, nearly 320,000 works were submitted by students from every state for adjudication.

The 2020 Delaware national awardees were named last week by the Diamond State Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. The national medalists hail from Cab Calloway School of the Arts (2), Appoquinimink High School, Middletown High School, Newark Charter, St. Andrews (5), Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences (3), and Tatnall School.

Winning students were to have attended a ceremony at New York’s Carnegie Hall, which was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020 Scholastic National Writing Awardees from Delaware include:

Riley Baker – 10^th Grade – St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, DE – Mousetrap (Novel Writing) – Silver Medal    

Ashley Bao – 10^th Grade – Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, DE – Curated Concrete (Flash Fiction) – Gold Medal

Renna Brooks – 11^th Grade – Appoquinimink High School in Middletown, DE – It is the East (Short Story) – Gold Medal 

Christine Chen – 11^th Grade – St. Andrew’s School – Raining Leaves, To the Couple in the Kitchen Across from My Window (Poetry) – Silver Medal

Isabella DaGrossa – 11^th Grade – Cab Calloway School of the Arts – Si, Hijo (Short Story) – Silver Medal                         

Lila Feldmann – 12^th Grade – St. Andrew’s School – Poems for the Female Existence (Poetry) – Gold Medal

Julie Griswold – 11^th Grade – Tatnall School in Wilmington, DE – Aegotheles Savesi (the New Caledonian owlet-nightjar) (Poetry) – Gold Medal            

Iris Hwang – 12^th Grade – St. Andrew’s School – The School (Dramatic Script) – Gold Medal

Iris Hwang – 12^th Grade – St. Andrew’s School – Sound with no Letters (Poetry) – Gold Medal

Zoe Musil – 8^th Grade – Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences in Georgetown, DE – In A Blink (Journalism) – Silver Medal

Samantha Oliver – 10^th Grade – Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences – On Birdsong and Love: An Abecedarian (Poetry) – Gold Medal

Jesse Roy – 12^th Grade – Newark Charter High School – Voix (Personal Essay & Memoir) – Gold Medal and American Voices Medal

Chelsea Tabaco – 8^th Grade – Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences – No Escape (Journalism) – Silver Medal

Ella Trembanis – 9^th Grade – Middletown High School – Memorialization of our Pasts (and Present) (Journalism) – Gold Medal

Students submitted works to any of the Awards’ 29 categories — including short story, fashion design, photography, memoir, printmaking, poetry, and novel writing — as well as a variety of sponsored award scholarships, including the New York Life Award, which encourages students to explore themes of grief in their art or writing.        

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards serve as a launchpad for furthering students’ future success by providing them with access to scholarship programs and workshops as well as the ability to have their work published and displayed in regional and national exhibitions.    

Each student was asked to submit photos for this story. Those who replied were included in the collection of photos.