Bernotas Seventh Graders Earn Top Honors in Scholastic Writing Contest

From The Belin-Blank Center: The Belin-Blank Center of the University of Iowa recently named winners of the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing contest, which included writers in grades 7-12 who submitted nearly 10,000 entries to the 2017 competition. Four Bernotas seventh graders received the Silver Key recognition, awarded to only the top 7-10 percent of applicants:

Samantha Blake for her science fiction story, Reality Jump
Tessa Hunter for her flash fiction story, Exploration
Sophie Kershaw for her poems, Scars, and Bees
Brooke Tomkins for her poem, Life Happens

Seven students received Honorable Mentions, awarded to only the top 10-15 percent of applicants:

Lucy Metz for her flash fiction story, Alone
Tessa Hunter for her flash fiction story, Brilliance
Joey Scaravalle for his humor piece, Burrito
Tessa Hunter for her poem, Endless Walk
Abi Getty for her short story, So There I Was
Vanessa Morales for her short story, Doom in the Forest
Maggie Noftz for her short story, The Adventure of PiPi the Pom Pom

All recipients are students from Mrs. Belinda Strebel’s seventh grade extended curriculum language arts class. Strebel requires her students to pursue publication outside her classroom each year. “Very few seventh-graders are recognized out of the thousands of middle and high school students who submit their works to this competitive Scholastic contest. We are so proud of these amazing, talented students!”

Students are invited to attend a Scholastic celebration at the University of Iowa in mid-March.

To read more about the Scholastic contest and to view students’ works online, go to www.belinblank.org/scholastic and click on See the Awards.

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay