By Léna Roy, Director of Teen Programs
On March 30th, 2025, 250 teen writers—and their families—came to Reid Castle at Manhattanville College to be celebrated for winning Scholastic Writing Awards in the Hudson to Housatonic region in New York. Out of over 2,500 pieces submitted to the H2H region, 169 received gold keys, 266 received silver keys, and 476 received Honorable Mentions. The event was produced by the regional Affiliate of The Awards, Writopia Lab.
Claire Breslow, 15, gave a cold open, performing one of her poems. Writopia’s Director of Teen Programs, Lena Roy, warmly welcomed everyone to the event, quoted the founder of The Awards, Dick Robinson — “Teen writers deserve as much celebration as teen athletes!” — and invited Writopia Founder Rebecca Wallace-Segall to the stage. Rebecca invited the first half of the award winners to come to claim their moment at the mic to share their name and why they love to write. Notably, many said they love to write because it helps them understand themselves and others, feel connected, and because, well, it’s fun.
Interspersed throughout were readings from H2H’s American Voices nominees. Congrats to Shirin Sadoughi, Arielle Sibley-Grice, Harry Kaufman, Glen Feng, and Mia Bornstein. One highlight: right before the ceremony, we asked and immediately found three writers to volunteer to perform an excerpt from Harry’s play — and they did an incredible job!
Toward the middle of the ceremony came a special celebration of middle schoolers. A few years ago, local author Joe Wallace launched The Village Bookstore Prizes as a way to encourage the youngest of the teen writers to keep writing. This year, the prizes went to:
- Anna Liu, Rumsey Hall School: “Choosing Kindness” (Personal Essay/Memoir)
- Milan Ackerman, New Paltz Middle School: “Reminders” (Short Story)
- Emma Wolff, Rye Country Day School: “Social Media Storm” (Dramatic Script)
- Erin Lang, Robert E. Bell Middle School: “Still Me” (Poem)
- Gianna Lopez, Somers Middle School: “TITLE” (Poem)
- Heidi Balkan, Greens Farms Academy: “Washed Away” (Poem)
Finally, it was time for our keynote speaker, Writopia alum Maxine Charles, to inspire us with tales of her own irreverent perseverance. She left the room invigorated by her insistence to preserve her authentic voice as she has navigated her role as editor at Flatiron Books, and has recently obtained an agent for her first novel. Maxine’s most notable books that she has edited so far are The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei and The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears.
After the final half of the award-winners were celebrated on stage, our wonderful Senior Speaker, Ashley Malkin who had a standout Gold Senior Portfolio, took the mic. Her interests are both neuroscience and poetry; she authoritatively and poetically assured us how and why authentic work can never be replaced by AI.
Rebecca closed out the event taking note that none of the winners said they wrote “to win awards.” She concluded: “Winning awards isn’t what makes the writer; writing whether you win awards or not is the true sign of a writer! Keep writing and making the world a more fun, interesting, and meaningful place.”
