Twenty-two MSMS students won a combined fifty-five Scholastic Art & Writing Awards at the state level, with eight of their works to be submitted for national adjudication, the Eudora Welty Foundation and the Mississippi Museum of Art announced recently.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are considered some of the most prestigious artistic awards for students at the state and national levels. It was founded in 1923, and past national winners include Truman Capote, Andy Warhol and Stephen King. There are a number of categories for the awards, including journalism, poetry, photography and short story.

Students in the recently retired Emma Richardson’s Creative Writing class were required to submit to the award, and were joined by students in Andy Snyder’s art classes and writers for The Vision. At the state level, there are four levels of awards, all of which had representation by MSMS students:

• The American Voices/Vision Nominees are five works from across all categories selected as the “best of show” for the state that go into a competition against each other for a medal at the national level. MSMS junior Abby Strain is an American Voices nominee for her poem “Broken Southern.”
• The Gold Key represents the best works submitted in the region that are automatically considered for national awards.
•  The Silver Key represents works submitted that “demonstrate exceptional ability”.
• Honorable Mentions are works that show “great skill and potential.”

At the national level, less than 1% of submitted works go on to win medals, most of which are associated with scholarship opportunities. The top works are presented by their creators at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Award winners shared their thoughts on the development of their artistic abilities.

“My writing style has developed a lot (since coming to MSMS),” Strain said. “I think Mrs. Richardson’s instruction in Creative Writing and the peer review system we did in class definitely helped my poetry.”

“When I was younger I wrote a lot,” said Fiona Dawe, who won a Silver Key for her article “The Prevalence of Sexual Assault.” “When I lived in London my parents got me a book and I would write in that.”

“I submitted because of creative writing,” said Karlene Deng, who won multiple awards at the state level. “Because Mrs. Richardson assigned homework so frequently, it prompted me to write faster and come up with a lot of ideas.”

The only school to receive more awards at the Mississippi state level was the Mississippi School of Arts. Writing award winners have been invited to visit the Eudora Welty House and Gardens in Jackson, MS, on April 19th to receive their awards in person, and art winners will have their works featured at the Mississippi Museum of Art from 2/8-3/22, and will also have an awards ceremony.

MSMS Scholastic Art & Writing Winners

• Abby Strain, JR
  • Poetry: 1 American Voices Nominee and Gold Key, 1 Honorable Mention
  • Humor: 1 Honorable Mention
  • Flash Fiction: 1 Honorable Mention
• Karlene Deng, JR
  • Poetry: 1 Gold Key, 1 Silver Key
• Ryley Fallon, SR
  • Poetry: 2 Gold Keys
  • Short Story: 1 Gold Key, 1 Honorable Mention
• Gina Nguyen, SR
  • Personal Essay/Memoir: 1 Gold Key
  • Short Story: 1 Gold Key
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
• Gracie Rowland, JR
  • Flash Fiction: 1 Gold Key, 1 Silver Key
  • Poetry: 1 Gold Key, 1 Honorable Mention
• Shelby Tisdale, JR
  • Poetry: 4 Gold Keys, 3 Silver Keys, 1 Honorable Mention
  • Drawing and Illustration: 1 Gold Key, 2 Honorable Mentions
  • Personal Essay/Memoir: 1 Silver Key
• Linda Arnoldus, SR
  • Photography: 1 Gold Key, 2 Silver Keys, 1 Honorable Mention
  • Poetry: 1 Silver Key, 1 Honorable Mention
• Felicity Browning, JR
  • Poetry: 1 Silver Key
  • Personal Essay/Memoir: 1 Honorable Mention
• Fiona Dawe, JR
  • Journalism: 1 Silver Key
• Neziah Igwebuike, SR
  • Poetry: 1 Silver Key, 1 Honorable Mention
  • Short Story: 1 Silver Key
• Skylar Nichols, JR
  • Poetry: 1 Silver Key, 1 Honorable Mention
• Auriel Quiroz, SR
  • Short Story: 1 Silver Key
• Alden Wiygul, SR
  • Short Story: 1 Silver Key
• Caroline Boltz, SR
  • Journalism: 1 Silver Key, 2 Honorable Mentions
• Cameron Thomas, SR
  • Journalism: 1 Silver Key, 1 Honorable Mention
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
• Alicia Argrett, SR
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
• Luke Bowles, JR
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
  • Flash Fiction: 1 Honorable Mention
• Samantha Broussard, SR
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
• Lily Langstaff, JR
  • Personal Essay/Memoir: 1 Honorable Mention
• Dakota Strait, SR
  • Poetry: 1 Honorable Mention
• Rachel Zheng, SR
  • Personal Essay/Memoir: 1 Honorable Mention