DC Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
March 9th, 2025
UDC Theater of the Arts
4200 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC
About The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards has served for over one hundred years as the nation’s longest-running, largest, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens, and the largest source of scholarships for young artists and writers. The Awards are administered nationally by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and locally through partnerships with regional affiliates.
The DC Metro Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is administered through a partnership with Writopia Lab, and serves communities in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and southern Maryland.
This year, teens from public, private, or home schools throughout America submitted more than 300,000 original works to the Awards’ 29 categories of art and writing. The DC Metro Writing Region received over 2,600 writing submissions and awarded 387 teens a total of 125 Gold Keys, 222 Silver Keys, and 345 Honorable Mentions. All Gold Keys have gone on to further adjudication at the national level. National honors will be announced on the artandwriting.org website on Wednesday, March 26th, 2025.
Submissions to the Awards are adjudicated blindly—jurors do not know the identity of student artists or authors. Jurors look for works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal voice.
The growing list of accomplished young writers recognized by The Awards has included Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lena Dunham. Outside the arts, Awards alumni employ their creativity to become successful in any number of ways—leaders in fields including journalism, medicine, finance, government and public service, the law, science, design, and more.
About Writopia Lab
Founded in 2007 as a 501(c)3 non-profit, Writopia Lab fosters joy, literacy, and critical thinking in children and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.
Every day at Writopia Lab, we witness the transformative power of being heard. Because of this experience, we are dedicated to giving teen writers the opportunity to be read—and celebrated—as part of the broader literary community. To help make this possible, we administer the DC Metro Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Writopia Lab coordinates submissions, organizes the adjudication, and presents the Awards Ceremony for regional recipients.
Writopia Lab is a nationwide community of young writers that runs school-year and summer programs at locations in the metropolitan regions of New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area—as well as online and in-person programming throughout the United States and abroad. For more information about Writopia Lab’s programs, please visit WritopiaLab.org.
DC Emerging Voices Award
For the first time in 2025, Writopia Lab is excited to present the DC Emerging Voices Award, a $200 prize given to a student who lives in DC Ward 7 or 8. We would like to thank Momentus Capital's Charitable Contributions Committee for supporting Writopia Lab in providing this award.
Daniel Golman, for “You Addict” (Poetry)
Special Thanks
To our keynote speaker: Liz Lawson.
To our esteemed jurors, for providing their valuable time and expertise.
To Writopia Lab’s volunteer staff, interns, and student families.
To Shannon Smith at ArtsFairfax and Angelique Palmer, the Poet Laureate of Fairfax County, for their ongoing and generous support of young writers in Northern Virginia. ArtsFairfax is the designated local arts agency for Fairfax County. Funding for the ArtsFairfax Scholarship comes from the Howard Uphoff bequest fund. Each year, ArtsFairfax offers scholarships to high school seniors in multiple arts disciplines through community partnerships.
Our Keynote Speaker
Liz Lawson is the New York Times bestselling author of The Agathas series (co-written with Kathleen Glasgow) and The Lucky Ones. Her next book, a YA murder mystery entitled Murder Between Friends, releases on April 22. Her books have been featured by the Today Show, People, Buzzfeed, Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and published in over a dozen countries. The Night in Question was a Today Show 2023 Read with Jenna Jr. pick. The Agathas was a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club pick, a Target/Epic Reads Book Club pick, and was named a best book of 2022 by Waterstones. The Lucky Ones was named a "Best Book of 2020" by both Kirkus Reviews and the Chicago Public Library. She lives in the DC metro area with her family and two very bratty cats.
Our Opening Dancers
Since 2018, District Irish Dance has sought to promote individuality in Irish dance through technique, teamwork, & tradition. We achieve this goal by combining expert instruction led by some of the best professional Irish dancers in the world, with a focus on student inclusion and community building. Running in our own beautiful, spacious studio in Tenleytown DC, we aim to bring out the best in every dancer, offering a well-rounded, rewarding Irish dance experience for all. You can find us at https://www.districtirishdance.com/
The Recipients
Gold Key Recipients
|
Emilie Allen Sosena Audain Sosi Audain Claire Baek Olivia Baek Aigerim Bibol Desmond Browne Estelle Chen Maggie Chen Nell Choi Alex Cox Lily Dezfulian Elana Ernst Izzy Fandl Camilla Felline Michaela Frey Camille Galvani Gabrielle Ghatt Chloe Giglio Advait Gohil Eliza Goldstein Arabella Griffin Kiana Hajikarimloo Hannah Han Avery Haseley Henry Hu Zora Jakes Ramtulai Jalloh Gabriela Kessler Brandon Kim Claire Kim Jennifer Kim |
Katie Kim Lauren Kim Vibhu Konduru Neharika Kumar Adam Kurnia nadia lach-hab Zack Lam Aiden Ledbetter Alex Li Amber Li Brian Li Jonathan Li Sophia Li William Liao Stephen Lin Charlotte Long Aliyah Majeed-Hall Louie Merriam Cindy Miao Ellie Namkoong Isabella Oh Amanda-Pearl Omoigui Rohan Packer Victoria Pan Kate Patrabansh Izabella Piatkowski Ruth Pournelle Tara Prakash Anshi Purohit Avi Qin Sophia Ren Maya Ruben |
Aakriti Rustagi Ivy Sand Lily Scheckner Ella Schneider Sandi Schneider Paper Sewoniku Caleb Smith Katharine Snodgrass Tiffany Tang Saachi Thomas Caitlin Toop Alan van der Sluis Jennifer Wan Samuel Wang Sophia Wang Sophie Wang Adeleine Wolff Olivia Wu Mengtong Xiang Yin Ham Eileen Xu Alicia Yau Hannah You Justin Yu Wenxi Yu Xinglin Yu Grace Yuan Ava Zhang Elaine Zhang Selena Zhang Annabelle Zhao Chelsea Zhu |
Silver Key Recipients
|
Hayden Ahn Sosena Audain Sosi Audain Lane Bassett Zoe Becker Sophia Bhalla Alexandra Blake Audrey Bowman Dava Boyce Quinn Burns Martina Cantua Melody Chen Shreya Cherukuri Alex Cho Yu-An Cho Nell Choi Audrey Chong Simone Coker Janney Cooper Katie Cosgrove Alex Cox David Craig Skylar Dalil Callie Deng Lily Dezfulian Makayla Donnelly Precious Foreman Michaela Frey Chloe Giglio Eliza Goldstein Elise Green Elizabeth Greene Kai Grenham Catherine Hall Hannah Han Isaac Harder Madison Harris Milla Hébert DJ Heiber Sofia Hernandez Helenasadat Hosseini Andrew Huang Yehji Hwang Grace Im tofunmi iwayemi Maisi Ji Reanna Jin Rin Johnson Brandon Kim Claire Kim Elizabeth Kim Lauren Kim Rayna Kim Sean Kim Sewon Kim |
Sewoong Kim Lilah Grace Kresse Neharika Kumar Yale Kwon Zack Lam Isabella Langlee Phoebe Lau Aiden Ledbetter Alvin Lee DoWon Lee Irene Lee Rosie Lee Sarah Lee Seoyeon Lee Thaelia Lee Skylar Leonard Alex Li Amber Li Amy Li Audrey Li Isabel Li Olivia Li Sarah Li Serena Li Sophia Li Yuhan Li William Liao Jessy Lin Michelle Lin Yanling Lin Claire Liu Roselyn Lobo Lemus Ethan Mao Nick Marino Ryhanna Mbakop Norah McCormick Indi Melvin Cindy Miao Maya Mourshed Amy Nam Krish Nayyar Aida Ndiaye Isabella Oh Verity Oh Amanda-Pearl Omoigui Keira Oostburg Rohan Packer Jason Pan Brandon Pang Sarah Park Kate Patrabansh Luc Penella Avery Phillips |
Renata Podlesny Ruth Pournelle Tara Prakash Olivia Proske Helen Qin Molly Raiden Ojasvi Ramani Shihan Rao Amenah Rashid James Reed Harry Reis Sophia Ren Eve Aloe Ronen Maya Ruben Aakriti Rustagi Shreyhaan Sarkar Lily Scheckner Daniel Seo Palatin Shaaker Jonathan Shan Neal Shandilya Renee Shi Jackson Sipple-Asher Abeni Smith Caleb Son Ayan Sudheer Lizzie Sun Tiffany Tang Helen Teddy Evan Thorn Zachary Thorn Ayush Tripathy Emmanuella Umoh Liza Vander Voort Quentin Veliz Saavedra Charlie Wang Elaina Wang Jenny Wang Venita Wang Dorothy Woods Andy Wu Kevin Xia Mengtong Xiang Derek Yang Bemnet Yiesak Justin Yu Bryan Yuan Grace Yuan Maira Zaidi Ada Zanni Ava Zhang Selena Zhang Victoria Zhang Joshua Zhou Chelsea Zhu |
Honorable Mention Recipients
|
Daniela Aguirre Solis Elizabeth Ahn Anembom Akumbu Paghunda Ali Soa Andriamananjara Uma Antsilevich Sosena Audain Sosi Audain Jeanelle Badu-Sekyere Olivia Baek Dheethya Balaji Malyha Bashar Ally Bass Erika Yael Bennett Nikhil Bhargava Aigerim Bibol Dakota Bitterman Alexandra Blake Ariana Blake Gaargi Bora Cleo Bowen-Wiggins Izzie Brabant Beatrice Burwell Sabrina Butler Vivian Cai Sophia Campbell sanvi challa Chloe Chang Aaron Chen Liuxi Chen Qiaoyi Chen Shreya Cherukuri Alex Cho Crystal Cho Faith Choe Elizabeth Choi Hojun Choi Ashley Chon Laura Civillico Simone Coker Skylar Dalil Gardiner Dietrich Stella DiIorio Mia Dimina Kate Dobson Emily Dong Makayla Donnelly Steven Dubon Samaira Ebad Kamgharida Ejiogu Elodie Fleurence Precious Foreman Annaliese Fox Michaela Frey Sarah Froman Stephanie Gambill Raina Gao Alessandra Garbini Uma Ghosal Chloe Giglio Ashley Gim Eliza Goldstein Charlotte Goodfriend Ananya Govind Riley Graves Eliana Green Elise Green Mahilan Guha Anusmara Gunturu Penelope Hager Catherine Hall Weston Hamilton Brian Han Hannah Han Mary Han Tatiana Harvey Evan Hernandez Kate Herrmann Hanna Hong Gabe Horowitz Grace Im Siobhan Jacobs Akshaya Jambunath Maisi Ji Cindy Jin Yiren Jing |
Raza Kandel Sanha Kang Yenna Kang Mira Karnik Gabriela Kessler Kira Kettler Olivia Khoury Lopez Brandon Kim Chaemin Kim Claire Kim Elizabeth Kim Grace Kim Hye-Sung Kim Jennifer Kim Katie Kim Maddison Kim Rayna Kim Siyoon Kim Veronica Kim Ava Krasner Lilah Grace Kresse Molly Kurtzer Moubon Kurukumbi Sophia Kutko Tristan LaDonna Maya Lam Zack Lam Isabella Langlee qwyen le Aiden Ledbetter Alvin Lee Hannah Lee Irene Lee Kiwon Lee Mad Lee Nicholas Lee Sarah Lee Alex Li Audrey Li Brian Li Mark Li Sophia Li Ziru Li William Liao Ruchel Limbos Jessy Lin Michelle Lin Yanling Lin Haotian Lu Jennifer Lu Avelyn Ludden Brigid Lyons Nick Marino Ryhanna Mbakop Norah McCormick Chloe McMahon John Melrose Janelle Mercado Cindy Miao Kyler Min Arai Nazarova Axelle Njomo Isabella Oh Verity Oh Danielle Ohlinger Amanda-Pearl Omoigui Mhia Orosco Mahima Pakalapati Victoria Pan Clara Park Sarah Park Lillian Payne Avery Phillips Renata Podlesny Ariel Pollard Pragna Pothakamuri Ruth Pournelle Nedas Prakasan Tara Prakash Helen Qin Kaitlyn Ramirez Shihan Rao Viraaj Raofield Amenah Rashid Sarah Ren |
Claire Rhee Isabella Richter Zoe Robell Cristian Rodriguez Portillo Sela Rongero Maya Ruben Aakriti Rustagi Peyton Rydzewski Abby Salkind-Foraker Ivy Sand Shreyhaan Sarkar Carmen Sofia Sarmiento Lily Scheckner Sandi Schneider Fenley Scurlock Leah Sealey Sarah Selim Palatin Shaaker Jonathan Shan Eden Sharon April Sheng Eyob Sisay Abeni Smith Caleb Smith Angelina Sofya Caleb Son Jacob Springer Samuel Stankiewicz Lyra Su Lillian Sugiarto Charlie Surniak Tiffany Tang Emily Tarazi Helen Teddy Zsuzsa Teleki Ashley Thompson Teniola Tobun Youki Tomimatsu Caitlin Toop Katja Treadwell Ayush Tripathy Rachel Truong Meriwether VandeSand Aria Vega Carrington Viot Jennifer Wan Anna Wang Daisy Wang Jiayang Wang Maxwell Wang Samuel Wang Sophia Wang Venita Wang Xiaohan Sophie Wang Alana Watkins Natalie Weis Emma Whitaker Grace Widjaja Eli Wike Delilah Witkowski Dorothy Woods Olivia Wu Kevin Xia Isabel Yan Catherine Yang Derek Yang Michelle Yao Alicia Yau Hyeon Yeom Justin Yu Matteo Yu Winston Yu Bryan Yuan Maira Zaidi Ada Zanni Ava Zhang Elaine Zhang Ivy Zhang Rhonda Zhang Selena Zhang Victoria Zhang Yingxi Zhao Joshua Zhou Chelsea Zhu Jiayue Zou |
What's Hot?
School Year Programs
- Enroll now in Spring Trimester workshops.
- Spring Break Workshops
Summer Programs
- Half-Day and Full-Day workshops
- WriCampia: Sleepaway Camp for kids and teens
- Advanced Writing Seminar: Two-Week Pre-College Program in NYC
Upcoming Events
- April 26th, 2025: Teen Open Mic in NYC!
- April 28th, 2025: Writopia's 2025 Gala