NK Senior Wins National Scholastic Art & Writing Award

North Kingstown's Kathleen Radigan, a senior at The Prout School, has won the National Scholastic Art and Writing Award Gold Portfolio. She will be honored in an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York on Friday, May 31.

This will be the 90th anniversary of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Kathleen was one of seven teenagers in the country to win the top award of Gold Portfolio Winner, out of more than 200,000 submissions. She was awarded $10,000 in scholarship money  for her portfolio of poetry and short stories.

Kathleen's writing mentor of five years is Marion Wrye, a creative writing teacher at St. Mary Academy Bayview. Wrye was also awarded prize money from Scholastic in honor of her role in nurturing Kathleen’s talent over the years.    

Kathleen also won $3,000 in the National Young Arts Competition last October. For that award, she was one of 21 students in the country selected for literary arts and she spent a week in Miami in January with the other winners, learning from professional mentors including Edward Albee, Placido Domino, and Robert Redford.

This is the first time someone from Rhode Island has ever won a National Gold Portfolio award from Scholastic. 

"I've been writing since I was a little kid," said Kathleen, "mostly because it was a way for me to occupy my relentless imagination without driving my parents crazy.  I've really never stopped since, as it's always been a natural outlet for me.  I try to do it every day even when words aren't coming easily, because when I'm writing frequently, I'm usually happier.

"When I found out I received a Gold Portfolio, I was completely stunned and humbled.... I am incredibly grateful for all the support I've received from friends, family, and other writers I've met who have helped me. I'm hoping that contests like this that recognize young writers will help to raise awareness and enthusiasm for other aspiring writers and artists, and to keep the value and relevance of literature alive."

Kathleen is heading to Connecticut College in the fall, where she thinks she'll study English. Here is a poem from Kathleen's portfolio:

I Love You

It’s actually easy to say goodbye. 

Climb into your car, foot to the pedal, 

and go over the paved cat’s tongue

which yawns into hills

and sleeps at the feet of garage doors.

On patios: empty wine glasses with lipstick-clouds

where mouths cracked wide

collecting moon-wine.

It’s easy to say goodbye.

Think of the way trees bleed and release red leaves.

Scrape your knee and a spring bursts into being.

It’s easy to replace the things that kept you breathing.

For some, goodbye is choking

on a chicken bone. Others wither

in wheelchairs while the loved ones

gather at the white bed,

blowing words around.

Goodbye is like squeezing the last sigh from a blue balloon,

Or maybe the trigger’s pointed at you,

and goodbye is an aftertaste

like salty carnival air

or your mother’s hands.

There are harder things to say.

You could hang up the phone right now

if you wanted, or quit reading this.

You could catch a bus to a town near a cobalt sea

which shimmers with pictures of people you’ve never seen:  

A lady in a yellow windbreaker will take your hand.

She’ll dip it in the sea like candlewax and all at once you’ll say the hardest thing, without thinking.