Blue Ridge Middle School students win prestigious writing awards

Blue Ridge Middle School 8th graders recently received Scholastic Achievement Awards and Creative Communications recognition to earn the school a Writing Achievement Award.

The Scholastic Writing Awards (https://scholastic.com) is a prestigious program that recognizes the work of 7th through 12th graders in the United States. The awards have been in existence since 1923 and have been an initial proving ground for famous American writers such as Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, and Joyce Carol Oates. Scholastic presents three awards for regional-level competition: Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention.

The students drafted, conferred, revised, and submitted pieces from multiple genres such as poetry, memoir/ personal essays, short story, flash fiction, science fiction/ fantasy, critical essay, and humor.

Eleven Blue Ridge Middle School Students placed within the DC Metro/ Regional Competition:

1 Gold Key recipient (top 5-7 percent in each category): Benjamin Demase

6 Silver Keys (top 7-10 percent in each category): Magdalena “Maggie” Alicea, Sasha Danjczek, Chance Harcrow, Evelyn Mccann, Simon Teague

4 Honorable Mentions (top 15 percent in each category): Spencer Dyson, Kyle Galletta, Ava Olechna, Maxwell Riley

In addition, each BRMS 8th grader wrote a poem to submit to the Creative Communications Annual Poetry Contest. Creative Communications (https://poeticpower.com) is an organization “devoted to the promotion of writing, teaching, and appreciation of student writing.”  The top received entries are selected for publication in an anthology; 199 BRMS students had their work chosen for publication  That’s 63 percent of the BRMS 8th grade.

Because of the high number and quality of the entries accepted for publication, Creative Communications selected Blue Ridge for a Writing Achievement Award, which is given to the top 10 percent of schools that entered the contest. 

Principal Brion Bell commented, “The preparation and work the teachers and students commit to this process prior to submissions is so impressive. Edit/Improve/Repeat is how great writing is made. Bravo to the work our students and teachers put into this endeavor. These awards are awesome and represent the end product of many opportunities for authentic writing.”

“Publishing matters to all writers—students and adults alike. We are so proud of all of our students for putting themselves out there so their voices can be heard,” said Allyson White, ELA Team Lead. Eric Kursman, an 8th grade English teacher added, “Their hard work to craft such powerful pieces and their resilience to battle through distance learning and a pandemic to cultivate writing worthy of national recognition is an outstanding testament to their determination!”

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