Students from across Broward County submitted pieces from a variety of categories to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in mid-December in hopes of receiving recognition for their creative talents. After a panel of judges reviewed all the submissions, the organization released this year’s list of Broward County winners, with several Heritage names on the list:
Abigail Li, Personal Essay & Memoir “There’s Not Much Left to Do” – Gold Key, American Voices Nominee
Abigail Li, Poetry “Casey, Are You Okay?” – Honorable Mention
Kelly Taylor, Writing Portfolio “Walking the Echoing Chamber of…” – Gold Key
Kelly Taylor, Dramatic Script “The Lovely Lucy” – Gold Key
Kelly Taylor, Flash Fiction “A Maze of Memory” – Gold Key
Maya Hernandez, Poetry “What’s the Big Idea?” – Silver Key
Maya Hernandez, Short Story “The Disappearance of Mrs. Shillings” – Silver Key
Jacqueline Schenker, Poetry “The Homecoming” – Honorable Mention
Scholastic invited the winners to attend the Broward awards reception Feb. 14 to recognize their achievements. Gold Key winners are also in the running for national medalist recognition and will receive those results in March. In addition to Gold Key winners, judges designate five works of writing from each region as American Voices nominees. From this pool of nominees, a panel of judges chooses one writer from each region to receive an American Voices medal and then recognizes these medalists at the national exhibition in New York City. Sophomore Abigail Li has been nominated for an American Voice award as well as winning a Gold Key.
Senior Kelly Taylor, who won three Gold Keys, is also in the running for a national Gold Key award.
“I have very little publication experience, so I’m going into a fresh career, and that’s something that’s really risky,” Taylor said. “It’s really exciting to know that my work is worthy of being out in the world. The best part is just knowing that people are going to read it, and that’s the whole point. That’s why I write.”
