Winning Keys: Students garner medals in regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

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Provided by Raymond Banke

Raymond Banke (11) submitted his artwork, titled Himalayas, to the regional Scholastic Art and Writing contest. Raymond won two Gold Keys, one Silver Key, and four Honorable Mentions.

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Reporter

Over 60 upper school students received recognition in this year’s regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, announced on Jan. 30, for their submissions of literary and visual art.

According to Scholastic, regional competitions judge students’ work for three criteria: originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Submissions can win a Gold Key, a Silver Key, an Honorable Mention or an American Visions & Voices Nomination. Gold Key works are then judged at the national level by a panel of experts in the industry and can win a National Medal.

Emily Chen (12), who received three Gold Keys, two Silver Keys and three Honorable Mentions for her writing, states that competitions like the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are not only a great way for student creators to grow but also very helpful for developing written and artistic presentation skills.

“It’s important for writers and artists to be recognized for the hard work and effort that they put into creating really unique and original pieces,” Emily said. “I think that, just like anybody else, I’m really grateful that people enjoyed my writing, and it encourages me to keep writing in the future.”

Junior Raymond Banke won two Gold Keys, one Silver Key and four Honorable Mentions for his artwork. He describes the Scholastic competition as a good gauge of one’s overall art skills at a more competitive level.

“For me, it’s confirmation that you definitely have potential in these areas because it’s nice to have a third party tell you how you’re doing compared to other people,” he said.

Winners at the national level will be announced on March 13 and recognized at the National Ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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Complete list of Harker winners:

Gold Key in Visual Arts: Raymond Banke (11), Deb Chatterjee (12), Cynthia Chen (10), Gwyneth Chen (12), Katelyn Chen (10), Liza Egorova (11), Catherine Wang (11), Elizabeth Yang (11), Anna Wang (11)

Silver Key in Visual Arts: Raymond Banke (11), Timothy Chang (11), Cynthia Chen (10), Gwyneth Chen (12), Ishani Cheshire (11), Liza Egorova (11), Katrina Liou (11), Catherine Wang (11), Anna Wang (11)

Honorable Mention in Visual Arts: Raymond Banke (11), Anoushka Buch (9), Cynthia Chen (10), Gwyneth Chen (12), Ishani Cheshire (11), Aislinn Coveney (12), Liza Egorova (11), Susan He (11), Kaitlin Hsu (12), Jason Huang (11), Julia Huang (12), Ashley Jiang (12), Katrina Liou (11), Raveena Panja (12), Rani Sheth (10), Emma Yu (12), Anna Wang (11), Joshua Zhou (10)

Gold Key in Writing: Emily Chen (12), Ishani Cheshire (11), Ellen Guo (10), Jacqueline He (12), Millie Lin (12), Annie Ma (10), Jerry Peng (11), Annabelle Perng (11), Sahana Srinivasan (12), Ayla Tanurhan (10), Larissa Tyagi (10), Joshua Valluru (10), Katherine Zhang (11)

Silver Key in Writing: Emily Chen (12), Gwyneth Chen (12), Ishani Cheshire (11), Kathy Fang (10), Sophia Gottfried (9), Rose Guan (11), Jacqueline He (12), Jessica Jiang (10), Vivian Jin (9), Prameela Kottapalli (11), Millie Lin (12), Andrew Lu (9), Annie Ma (10), Irina Malyugina (9), Kalyan Narayanan (10), Anjay Saklecha (11), Sahana Srinivasan (12), Joshua Valluru (10), Liana Wang (12), Shania Wang (11), Kelsey Wu (11), Helen Yang (11), Katherine Zhang (11), Tiffany Zhao (11)

Honorable Mention in Writing: Emily Chen (12), Ishani Cheshire (11), Aditi Ghalsasi (10), Aarzu Gupta (10), Mahika Halepete (10), Jacqueline He (12), Jessica Jiang (10), Amy Jin (12), Aditi Khanna (10), Jason Lin (9), Andrew Lu (9), Irina Malyugina (9), Rakesh Nori (10), Sana Pandey (10), Amla Rashingkar (10), Anjay Saklecha (11), Sahana Srinivasan (12), Betsy Tian (9), Joshua Valluru (10), Alexander Young (11), Katherine Zhang (11), Tiffany Zhao (11)

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on March 6, 2018.