Students in Long Beach High School’s Talented Writers program earned a total of 16 distinctions in the Scholastic Art & Writing competition, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Four Gold Key award recipients will now move on to the national level.

Gold Key awards in poetry were attained by Andrea Dispo for “Collision: Home” and Samantha Breen for “Pap’s Antiques,” while Kaitlyn Khalawan and Samantha Rosenbaum earned Gold Keys in the short fiction category for “Ruby Red” and “Bye, Bye Fishy,” respectively. 

Andrea also took a Silver Key for the poem “Call it Love” and an Honorable Mention for “Today, a Sunrise.” Sarah Halley received a Silver Key for her writing portfolio, “Musings of My Everyday Life,” while Matt Landsman did so in short fiction for “Soulmate.” Hailey Brandt, Ava Ligouri and Molly Zec achieved Silver Key recognitions in poetry for their pieces, “Summer in the City,” “Kristallnacht” and “Unbothered,” and Molly additionally took an Honorable Mention for “La Jolla.” 

Anna Xiao received two Honorable Mention distinctions – one for the poem “To My Grandparents,” and the other for her writing portfolio, “Echoes of My Ancestors.” Ben Armus was awarded an Honorable Mention in poetry for “Babylon,” as was Molly Hennessy for “Lovers of Brocken.” 

Long Beach High School’s Visual Arts students also excelled in this awards program and took 15 recognitions for their entries. According to Scholastic, students submitted nearly 340,000 works of art and writing to the Scholastic Awards in 2019. Submissions are judged based on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.