Congratulations 2020 DC Metro Scholastic Writing Awards recipients!

View the full list of works recognized in the 2020 DC Metro Writing Region of the Scholastic Writing Awards below!

A panel of professional novelists, editors, teachers, poets, librarians, journalists, and other literary professionals selected these works from 1,546 works submitted this year.

• 248 Honorable Mentions awarded to promising works
• 142 Silver Keys awarded to distinguished works
• 109 Gold Keys awarded to the most accomplished works
• 5 American Voice Nominees selected as the strongest regional works

Gold Keys are automatically forwarded for consideration at the national level of the Scholastic Writing Awards.

To recognize their outstanding work, this year's Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention recipients are invited, along with their guests, teachers, and our esteemed jurors, to the 2020 Awards Ceremony for the DC Metro Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! RSVP now for seating and further details!

It costs Writopia over $50,000 to run the Scholastic Writing Awards in three regions. Please donate today to help support this important work. Thank you!

2020 DC Metro Regional Ceremony

• Date: Sunday, March 8th
• Time: 2:00 to 4:00 PM
• Location: UDC Theater of the Arts
• Address: 4200 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
• Email: RegisterDC@writopialab.org
• Phone: (202) 629-9510
• Keynote Speaker: Susan Muaddi Darraj
• RSVP form link

Regional Prizes

Diaz-Mattison Poetry Prize

• Marissa Michel of Sidwell Friends Upper School, Washington, DC, for the poem “Fanm flè - Flowering Women”

Interfaith Primary School Literary Awards for Faith and Spiritual Awareness

• Aumena Choudhry of Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, VA for “Kindness” (Memoir)
• Lexi Dressman of Northwest High School, Germantown, MD for “Hey, God” (Memoir)
• Isaac Lamoreaux of McLean High School, McLean, VA for “East of Zion” (Memoir)

American Voices Nominees

• Abigail Kim of Sidwell Friends Upper School, Washington, DC, for “This Poem Works Forwards and Backwards” (Poetry)
• Marissa Michel of Sidwell Friends Upper School, Washington, DC, for “In Mayagüez” (Poetry)
• Gabriela Orozco of School Without Walls, Washington DC, for “A Conquistador’s Currency, Echoes from the Quarry” (Poetry)
• Avery Watkins of National Cathedral Girls School, Washington, DC for Do You Have an ‘Alex’ (Critical Essay)
• Lydia Wei of Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, MD, for “Definitions of Body” (Poetry)

2020 DC Metro Scholastic Awards