Sixteen of Long Beach High School’s Talented Writers program students earned a total of 24 distinctions in the Scholastic Art & Writing competition. The Gold and Silver Key awards and Honorable Mention recognitions were all achieved in the poetry category.

Uma Arengo won a Gold Key for ‘The Everglades” and two Silver Key honors for “Ode to Rice” and “Scenes Along a Highway.” Silver Key awards were also attained by Benjamin Armus for “Inside the Brand New,” Sarah Conway for “Sometimes, Thanksgiving is Scarier than Halloween,” Laika Khan for “A Girl Called Malala,” Gabrielle Pine for “Tree of Mine” and Samantha Rosenbaum for “Villain-elle.” Sarah and Samantha also received Honorable Mentions for their respective pieces, “The Sky Loves Another” and “I Eat Teeth.”

Additional Honorable Mention winners are Hailey Brandt for “I’d Like to Go Back,” Samantha Breen for “Tuscany, 1960,” Jason Ferrante for “Fairy Lullaby” and “On Growing Up Jewish,” Natalia Hakimzadeh for “Dear Aquintania” and “My Sun,” Molly Hennessy for “Spatio Post Mortem,” Matthew Landsman for “Hues of Sorrow” and “Paris Smoke,” Victoria Lugo for “Garden of Eden” and “Under Golden Arches,” Gabriella Moreira for “Fight,” Ana Ramirez for “Yo Naci” and Isadora Turbek for “Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs.”

According to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the presenter of this awards program, students across America submitted nearly 320,000 works of art and writing to the Scholastic Awards in 2020. Submissions are judged based on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.