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Your donations help us change the lives of children and teens from low income backgrounds who want to share their stories. And it's not just about creative writing. Your donation ensures that we can provide all of our youths support with their academic essays and college essays.

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To make other arrangements—such as a pledge or to pay or donate by check or through a donor-advised fund—please contact accounting@writopialab.org.

Thank You from our Board of Directors

    Thank you so much for supporting the sustainability and accessibility of Writopia Lab’s programs. Our own children, some now in college, grew up in the enchanted and enriching worlds of Writopia and Wricampia. There, they dreamed alongside other eager kids as they embarked on personal journeys through storytelling–crafting tales of dragons and everyday heroes, composing songs that move hearts, penning memoirs that reflected their true selves, and debating ideas that spark change. 

We want *every* child to have the opportunity to share their unique story in a joyful and nurturing literary arts community.

Thank you for being part of this effort with us.

—Jennifer Divina and John Plummer, Fundraising Committee Co-Chairs, Writopia Lab Board of Directors

    Thank you for joining me in supporting Writopia Lab. Writopia is a very special program. My sons learned so much from their teachers about writing and also as role models. The experiences they had at Writopia of writing from their imaginations then editing their own work, free of the format of a school assignment, has stayed with them, something they can rely on in the work they do today, years later. It is beautiful when communities come together to ensure that all children have what they need to thrive. 

—Amy Smith, Writopia Lab, Board of Directors

See the list of our supporters.

Read about Writopia Lab Funding Opportunities.

Congratulations 2025 DC Metro Scholastic Writing Awards recipients!

View the full list of works recognized in the 2025 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 2,619 works submitted this year.

• 345 Honorable Mentions awarded to promising works
• 222 Silver Keys awarded to distinguished works
• 125 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.

DC Awards Ceremony

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 2025 Awards Ceremony for the DC Metro Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards!

• Date: Sunday, March 9th, 2025
• Time: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET
• Place: UDC Theater of the Arts, 4200 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
• RSVP form link

American Voices Nominees

• Nadia Lach-Hab of Arlington Public Schools for A Taste of Freedom (Personal Essay & Memoir)
• Aigerim Bibol of Sidwell Friends for binary bodies (Poetry)
• Aliyah Majeed-Hall of Potomac School, for Half Moon Rising (Personal Essay & Memoir)
• Tara Prakash of Sidwell Friends, for How do you save a house on flames and everyone in it? (Poetry)
• Michaela Frey of Langley High School, for MY HUSBAND AND I TRAVEL (Poetry)

2025 DC Metro Scholastic Awards

Dear Writopia parents,

Many parents have asked us how they can best support their writers alongside us, so we put together a list of tips for you. The keys to supporting your writer are 1) trust-building, 2) celebration, and 3) deep engagement.

TRUST-BUILDING  

• Be positive!
  • Writing can make us feel both gratified and vulnerable at the same time, so whether you are discussing your child’s creative or analytical writing, as parents, always approach a piece first and foremost based on its strengths. This will help your writer develop the confidence needed to keep writing, try new things in their work, and most importantly, share with you more often. Regardless of how silly, serious, or sparse the writing might be, tell your child what it made you imagine, think, and feel.
    • Let us offer the constructive feedback: During workshop, we start by offering strengths-based feedback. Then we work rigorously to help each writer grow as writers and thinkers. Since our instructors are not related to the writers, writers often embrace constructive feedback openly from them. Instructors offer insights and suggestions to writers on everything from character and story development, to literary style and tool usage, to sentence structure. We spend the first half of the week on story development, and then we integrate mechanics/grammar/spelling into our conversations toward the second half of the week.    
  • Don’t fear your writer’s work, no matter the content! “Fiction is a powerful and ancient virtual reality technology that simulates the big dilemmas of human life,” suggests evolutionary psychologist, Jonathan Gottschall. He points out that the typical plotlines of children’s playtime— barbies and superheros alike —  feature rambunctious conflict and struggle. Therein lies the essential value of fiction, he argues. “The constant firing of our neurons in response to fictional stimuli strengthens and refines the neural pathways that lead to skillful navigation of life’s problems. From this point of view, we are attracted to fiction not because of an evolutionary glitch, but because fiction is, on the whole, good for us. This is because human life, especially social life, is intensely complicated and the stakes are high. Fiction allows our brains to practice reacting to the kinds of challenges that are, and always were, most crucial to our success as a species…” In other words, writers help themselves, and all of humanity around them, process fears, decompress, and prepare for life’s challenges often without even knowing it. In very rare circumstances, we will reach out to parents if we are concerned by story content. Read more about our approach here! Main takeaway: celebrate, rather than fear, your children’s zany, sometimes darkly dramatic, and wonderful imaginations. They are a gift to us all. 
  • Young writers (ages 6-8) are often excited to share their work with you when they get home and/or ask you to continue typing for them as they narrate. Cherish this beautiful moment by typing every single word they dictate with as little editing as possible and with absolutely no criticizing. If you do this, they are more likely to continue to share with you as they get older.
  • If your writer is hesitant to share a piece with you:
    • Ask them to show you ONE line that they’re especially proud of--and, most importantly, LOVE THAT LINE! This shows your writers that they can trust you to be positive and “get” them and their stories. 
  • If your writer won’t share their work with you,
    • Don’t fret; it’s very common. Writing can feel quite personal to them. It sometimes takes a lot before writers feel comfortable enough to share their work with the people they love most.  
    • Please know that if you have questions or concerns, or haven’t yet and would like to read a piece, you can reach out to us at any time. 
  • Email us! At Writopia, we’re happy to discuss any questions you have about your writer’s stories, process them with you, and integrate your insights in the most productive way into workshop. This way, you remain a source of positivity to your writer while we take the lead as rigorous workshop instructors. Email us anytime with your thoughts or questions.

CELEBRATION

• Take note of your writer’s goals.
  • Celebrate all the good humor or drama and literary style that defines your writer’s piece. Encourage your writer to share his/her/their work at readings and/or through submissions. As writers, we cherish the affirmation that comes from recognition, especially from the ones closest to us. Keep in mind, though, that because writing is such a personal experience, if your writer feels pressured to submit or read by you or anyone else, and that they aren’t in charge of setting their own goals, they may lose interest in the entire process and close up. If your writer isn’t ready to send out work, let them know that there’s no pressure to submit. We will work with them to get there over days, weeks, months, or years of time. 
  • Let your writer know how proud you are of them for working through the writer’s process. It’s both gratifying and challenging to collect one’s innermost thoughts and put them down in words.

DEEP ENGAGEMENT

• Ask questions about your writer’s work.
  • In addition to or rather than asking, “How was workshop today?” or, “What did you learn today?” try the questions like these with more dynamic answers in mind:
    • Who is your main character? 
    • What point of view is it written in? Is there an “I” narrator?
    • What does s/he want?
    • What is your favorite obstacle that s/he’s facing?
    • What scene did you write today?
    • What part of your story did you share today with the group?
    • Teach me the writing game you played!

• Be a role model.
  • Reading, writing, taking risks, and supporting literacy and literary growth yourself are all crucial to supporting your writer’s own work. 
  • Talk to your writers about books, TV shows, movies, and video games that they enjoy, you enjoy, or you both enjoy. Having positive discussions about stories that aren’t theirs is a great way to deepen their literacy and show them how important writing and intellectual discourse is to you and to our society as a whole.

We look forward to continuing to work with your writers as they grow in Writopia! Please do not hesitate to reach out to either of us anytime.

Warmly,

Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Founder & CEO

Yael Schick, Executive Director

Writopia Lab

Dear Writopia parents,

Many parents have asked us how they can best support their writers alongside us, so we put together a list of tips for you. The keys to supporting your writer are 1) trust-building, 2) celebration, and 3) deep engagement.

TRUST-BUILDING  

• Be positive!
  • Writing can make us feel both gratified and vulnerable at the same time, so whether you are discussing your child’s creative or analytical writing, as parents, always approach a piece first and foremost based on its strengths. This will help your writer develop the confidence needed to keep writing, try new things in their work, and most importantly, share with you more often. Regardless of how silly, serious, or sparse the writing might be, tell your child what it made you imagine, think, and feel.
    • Let us offer the constructive feedback: During workshop, we start by offering strengths-based feedback. Then we work rigorously to help each writer grow as writers and thinkers. Since our instructors are not related to the writers, writers often embrace constructive feedback openly from them. Instructors offer insights and suggestions to writers on everything from character and story development, to literary style and tool usage, to sentence structure. We spend the first half of the week on story development, and then we integrate mechanics/grammar/spelling into our conversations toward the second half of the week.    
  • Don’t fear your writer’s work, no matter the content! “Fiction is a powerful and ancient virtual reality technology that simulates the big dilemmas of human life,” suggests evolutionary psychologist, Jonathan Gottschall. He points out that the typical plotlines of children’s playtime— barbies and superheros alike —  feature rambunctious conflict and struggle. Therein lies the essential value of fiction, he argues. “The constant firing of our neurons in response to fictional stimuli strengthens and refines the neural pathways that lead to skillful navigation of life’s problems. From this point of view, we are attracted to fiction not because of an evolutionary glitch, but because fiction is, on the whole, good for us. This is because human life, especially social life, is intensely complicated and the stakes are high. Fiction allows our brains to practice reacting to the kinds of challenges that are, and always were, most crucial to our success as a species…” In other words, writers help themselves, and all of humanity around them, process fears, decompress, and prepare for life’s challenges often without even knowing it. In very rare circumstances, we will reach out to parents if we are concerned by story content. Read more about our approach here! Main takeaway: celebrate, rather than fear, your children’s zany, sometimes darkly dramatic, and wonderful imaginations. They are a gift to us all. 
  • Young writers (ages 6-8) are often excited to share their work with you when they get home and/or ask you to continue typing for them as they narrate. Cherish this beautiful moment by typing every single word they dictate with as little editing as possible and with absolutely no criticizing. If you do this, they are more likely to continue to share with you as they get older.
  • If your writer is hesitant to share a piece with you:
    • Ask them to show you ONE line that they’re especially proud of--and, most importantly, LOVE THAT LINE! This shows your writers that they can trust you to be positive and “get” them and their stories. 
  • If your writer won’t share their work with you,
    • Don’t fret; it’s very common. Writing can feel quite personal to them. It sometimes takes a lot before writers feel comfortable enough to share their work with the people they love most.  
    • Please know that if you have questions or concerns, or haven’t yet and would like to read a piece, you can reach out to us at any time. 
  • Email us! At Writopia, we’re happy to discuss any questions you have about your writer’s stories, process them with you, and integrate your insights in the most productive way into workshop. This way, you remain a source of positivity to your writer while we take the lead as rigorous workshop instructors. Email us anytime with your thoughts or questions.

CELEBRATION

• Take note of your writer’s goals.
  • Celebrate all the good humor or drama and literary style that defines your writer’s piece. Encourage your writer to share his/her/their work at readings and/or through submissions. As writers, we cherish the affirmation that comes from recognition, especially from the ones closest to us. Keep in mind, though, that because writing is such a personal experience, if your writer feels pressured to submit or read by you or anyone else, and that they aren’t in charge of setting their own goals, they may lose interest in the entire process and close up. If your writer isn’t ready to send out work, let them know that there’s no pressure to submit. We will work with them to get there over days, weeks, months, or years of time. 
  • Let your writer know how proud you are of them for working through the writer’s process. It’s both gratifying and challenging to collect one’s innermost thoughts and put them down in words.

DEEP ENGAGEMENT

• Ask questions about your writer’s work.
  • In addition to or rather than asking, “How was workshop today?” or, “What did you learn today?” try the questions like these with more dynamic answers in mind:
    • Who is your main character? 
    • What point of view is it written in? Is there an “I” narrator?
    • What does s/he want?
    • What is your favorite obstacle that s/he’s facing?
    • What scene did you write today?
    • What part of your story did you share today with the group?
    • Teach me the writing game you played!

• Be a role model.
  • Reading, writing, taking risks, and supporting literacy and literary growth yourself are all crucial to supporting your writer’s own work. 
  • Talk to your writers about books, TV shows, movies, and video games that they enjoy, you enjoy, or you both enjoy. Having positive discussions about stories that aren’t theirs is a great way to deepen their literacy and show them how important writing and intellectual discourse is to you and to our society as a whole.

We look forward to continuing to work with your writers as they grow in Writopia! Please do not hesitate to reach out to either of us anytime.

Warmly,
Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Founder & CEO
Yael Schick, Executive Director
Writopia Lab

WriCampia 2024 Projects

Filmmaking Track

Songwriting Track

Page to Stage Track

Newspaper Track

College Recruitment Events

These events will be held at our Upper West Side lab and online. In-person space is limited: RSVP now and we will confirm in a few days whether you have an in-person or online spot.

Bryn Mawr College

• Come meet a recruitment representative to learn about Bryn Mawr’s creative writing major, student literary awards/merit scholarships, and more.
• September 24, 2024 | 6 PM ET

Wesleyan University

• Come meet a recruitment representative to learn about their College of Letters major, 17 different student publications, fellowships and prizes for writing, and more.
• October 1st, 2024 | 6 PM ET

Ithaca College

• Come meet a recruitment representative to learn about Ithaca’s merit scholarship opportunities for writers and more.
• October 8th, 2024 | 7 PM ET

University of Pennsylvania 

• Come meet Associate Director of Recruitment Jamie-Lee Josselyn from UPenn’s Kelly Writers House. 
• October 23rd, 2024 | 7 PM ET

Tufts University

• November 12th, 2024 | 6 PM ET

Click here to RSVP!

Join the Writopia Lab Junior Board of Directors! 

The Junior Board is independent of but complementary to its Board of Directors in supporting and advancing its mission and are currently interviewing potential Junior Board members.

What We Do

The Junior Board is a volunteer council of young professionals dedicated to promote and advocate on behalf of Writopia Lab through fundraising and volunteer initiatives and attract new friends to the organization. 

The Junior Board comprises five committees, as follows:

• Fundraising / Scholarship
• Outreach / Website / Social Media
• Support / Volunteer / Events
• Alumni Network Development / Recruiting
• Accounting / Finance / Treasurer

Who We Are

Writopia Lab serves a very diverse community of youth and it is important to us that our Junior Board offers representation to those we serve. Ideally our new board members will bring diverse perspectives, life experiences, and expertise. Among the characteristics we hope to find in our new Junior Board members would be expertise and passion for fundraising and social justice as well as skills and experience in budgeting, accounting, finance, event planning, recruiting and digital media.

The time commitment for serving includes quarterly Junior Board of Directors meetings and committee/project meetings as required. If you have the time and interest, involvement can go beyond these main responsibilities.

Writopia Lab’s mission is to foster joy, literacy, and critical thinking in young people from all backgrounds through writing workshops. We are a national nonprofit, founded in NYC in 2007 serving between 4000 and 5,000 youths per year in workshops at our labs, in Title 1 schools, public and private schools, and at long-time partnership sites like Homes for the Homeless and Goddard Riverside. Our instructors are published writers and produced playwrights trained in our rigorous, strengths-based model. Our writers set goals and develop original pieces. For our in-house workshops, our families choose from a no-barrier sliding scale fee model the price-point then can afford or apply for full aid. We have never turned a family away due to an ability to pay.  We are one of the most socio-economically diverse youth literacy programs running nation-wide. 

Our Junior Board of Directors is expected to support the Junior Board’s mission through flexible levels of philanthropy, along with expertise-based advising and support, compliance oversight, and with enthusiastic sharing of our programs and work. There is no “give and get” requirement. According to our bylaws, Junior Board service at Writopia Lab is a two-year commitment with an opportunity to renew.  

Founders of The Junior Board

Kristjan Tomasson

Founding Member, Junior Board of Directors

Kristjan Tomasson is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania who currently works as an Associate in Private Equity at Cerberus Capital Management. He is an alumnus of Writopia Lab Creative Writing Workshops and its CBO outreach program both as a student in middle school and as a teaching intern/volunteer throughout high school. Kristjan credits the dedicated mentors he had at Writopia Lab with developing his composition skills and nurturing his love of creative writing. When he became an instructor's assistant, he relished passing on what he had learned to fourth and fifth grade Writopia students. During the summer, he worked with under-resourced youth in the Rockaways, teaching them how to express their emotions through the art of writing which was a wonderful and inspirational community service experience.

Emma Hanley

Founding Member, Junior Board of Directors

Emma Hanley is currently an investor with Technology Crossover Ventures ("TCV") in New York, where she focuses on infrastructure and enterprise software growth equity investing. Prior to TCV, Emma started her career at Morgan Stanley in the Consumer Retail and Technology groups within the Investment Banking division, where she was first introduced to Writopia through a strategy partnership via Youth INC, an accelerator for New York City's youth-development nonprofits. She holds a B.S. degree in Management Science & Engineering and a minor in Computer Science from Stanford University. Emma has had a long love for supporting youth literacy as an English tutor to elementary and middle school students, editor of her school's creative writing magazine, member of the New York Public Library's Young Lions, and active book club enthusiast.

Paveena Bhugra

Founding Member, Junior Board of Directors

Paveena Bhugra is an Associate at Neuberger Berman focusing on Technology, Media and Telecom Investing. She grew up in Illinois and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Finance. Paveena has lived in NYC for the past five years and enjoys exploring new restaurants, traveling and spending time with her friends and family. She serves on our junior board and has a passion for storytelling and believes in the positive impact creative writing can have on individuals everywhere. 

Email us at juniorboard@writopialab.org.

H2H Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

March 30th, 2025

O’Byrne Chapel at Reid Castle
Manhattanville College
2900 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY

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 Hudson-to-Housatonic Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is administered through a partnership with Writopia Lab, and serves communities north of New York City: Fairfield and Litchfield counties in Connecticut; and Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster counties in New York.

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 H2H Writing Region received more than 2,500 writing submissions and awarded 568 teens a total of 169 Gold Keys, 266 Silver Keys, and 476 Honorable Mentions. All Gold Keys have gone on to further adjudication at the national level. National honors were 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 H2H 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.

American Voices Nominees

Each year five American Voices Nominees are selected from the H2H Writing Region to exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice. During the national re-adjudication of all regional Gold Key works, the region’s American Voices medal recipient will be chosen from among these nominees.

• Harry Kaufman, for “Bone Marrow” (Dramatic Script)
• Shirin Sadoughi, for “Evergreen” (Poetry)
• Arielle Sibley-Grice, for “First hello, last goodbye” (Flash Fiction)
• Glen Feng, for “From Past Historical Flaws Curtailing Their Freedoms to Contemporary Racism That Fuels Their Desire to Fight for Their American Dream: Why is Being Asian American Just So Difficult?” (Critical Essay)
• Mia Bornstein, for “Portrait of Pluto” (Personal Essay & Memoir)

The Village Bookstore Middle School Prizes

The Village Bookstore of Pleasantville, NY is proud to present six prizes for middle school writers! These prizes aim to empower and embolden middle school writers who demonstrate exemplary skill and promise in their writing abilities, and to encourage their interest in and love for the craft. 

• Anna Liu, for "Choosing Kindness" (Personal Essay/Memoir)
• Milan Ackerman, for "Reminders" (Short Story)
• Emma Wolff, for "Social Media Storm" (Dramatic Script)
• Erin Lang, for "Still Me" (Poem)
• Gianna Lopez, for "TITLE" (Poem)
• Heidi Balkan, for "Washed Away" (Poem)

Special Thanks

To our keynote speaker: Maxine Charles.

To our esteemed jurors, for providing their valuable time and expertise.

To Writopia Lab’s volunteer staff, interns, and student families.

To Joe Wallace and The Village Bookstore of Pleasantville, NY, for sponsoring six prizes for middle schoolers. Among the few independent neighborhood bookshops remaining in the region, The Village Bookstore features a great selection of books and gifts. Their knowledgeable staff is committed to the local community and welcomes special orders! They are located across from the Jacob Burns Film Center, at 10 Washington Avenue, Pleasantville, New York.

Our Keynote Speaker 

Maxine Charles is an associate editor at Flatiron Books, a subsidiary of McMillan. Prior to joining Flatiron in 2020, Maxine Charles was an editorial intern at literary agencies Writers House and Aevitas Creative Management. She has a passion for genre fiction and uplifting marginalized voices. She gravitates toward thought-provoking fantasy, science fiction, horror, and thrillers that use genre elements to present social commentary and subvert expectations. Her authors at Flatiron include Yume Kitasei (The Deep Sky) and Amy Avery (The Longest Autumn).

The Recipients

• Gold Key
  Recipients
• Silver Key
  Recipients
• Honorable Mention
  Recipients

Gold Key Recipients

Silver Key Recipients

Honorable Mention Recipients

H2H Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

April 7th, 2024

O’Byrne Chapel at Reid Castle
Manhattanville College
2900 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY

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 Hudson-to-Housatonic Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is administered through a partnership with Writopia Lab, and serves communities north of New York City: Fairfield and Litchfield counties in Connecticut; and Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster counties in New York.

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 H2H Writing Region received more than 2,900 writing submissions and awarded 574 teens a total of 112 Gold Keys, 319 Silver Keys, and 584 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, June 12th, 2024.

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 H2H 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.

American Voices Nominees

Each year five American Voices Nominees are selected from the H2H Writing Region to exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice. During the national re-adjudication of all regional Gold Key works, the region’s American Voices medal recipient will be chosen from among these nominees. 

Valencia Massaro, for The Mall (Short Story)

Claire Nam, for Lakȟóta Language Revitalization: We Must Save Our Dying Tongues (Critical Essay)

Zahra Sadoughi, for Dark Space (Poetry)

Lauren Zhang, for Magnolia Tree (Short Story)

Emily Zhang, for bloodred white & blue (Poetry)

The Village Bookstore Middle School Prizes

 The Village Bookstore of Pleasantville, NY is proud to present six prizes for middle school writers! These $50 prizes aim to empower and embolden middle school writers who demonstrate exemplary skill and promise in their writing abilities, and to encourage their interest in and love for the craft. 

Elizabeth Devine, for You'll Always Forget; I'll Always Remember (Personal Essay/Memoir)

Serine Lee, for Queen of Decay (Poetry)

Quinn Jones, for Quinn Jones; an Obituary (Poetry)

Natalia Levicky, for Once Upon a Time No More (Flash Fiction)

Gigi Vincentz, for Stages of Sisterhood (Poetry)

Yuhan Zhou, for Why Is Protecting Endangered Species Important? (Critical Essay)

Lyla Sheedy, for Every Awakening (Science Fiction and Fantasy)

Special Thanks

To our keynote speaker: Rita Feinstein.

To our esteemed jurors, for providing their valuable time and expertise.

To Writopia Lab’s volunteer staff, interns, and student families.

To Joe Wallace and The Village Bookstore of Pleasantville, NY, for sponsoring six prizes for middle schoolers. Among the few independent neighborhood bookshops remaining in the region, The Village Bookstore features a great selection of books and gifts. Their knowledgeable staff is committed to the local community and welcomes special orders! They are located across from the Jacob Burns Film Center, at 10 Washington Avenue, Pleasantville, New York.

Our Keynote Speaker 

Rita Feinstein is the author of the young adult novel Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension (Page Street YA) and the poetry collections Everything is Real and Life on Dodge (both from Brain Mill Press). Her work has appeared in multiple literary journals, including Willow Springs, Salamander Magazine, and Beloit Poetry Journal, and has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, who is a lawyer, and her dog, who is not. You can learn more about Rita at ritafeinstein.com and follow her on Twitter/X @RitaFeinstein or Instagram @longlostdragonprincess.

The Recipients

• Gold Key
  Recipients
• Silver Key
  Recipients
• Honorable Mention
  Recipients

Gold Key Recipients

Silver Key Recipients

Honorable Mention Recipients