Creative Writing National Winners

The following students were honored on the stage of Carnegie Hall on June 1, 2012 with writers and their teachers from all over the country for their poetry and prose collections.

National Scholastic Alliance of Arts and Writers Winners:

Elizabeth Curley - junior
Michelle Farina - junior
Amanda Vasquez - junior)
Chandler Wilson - junior)
Lindsay Wright - freshman)

Greetings!

I am so excited to say that the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards 2012 were amazing! There were four juniors and one freshman winner for poetry and prose from Blake. Next year is the 90th year for this contest and the head of Scholastics talked about past winners like Robert Redford, Truman Capote, Andy Warhol and Sylvia Plath. He spoke of the encouragement and momentum they received as high schoolers from being recognized for their talent. The keynote speaker for the awards ceremony was Meryl Streep. They also heard from former winner and famous illustrator, Edward Sorel. The judges for poetry included Niki Giovanni and David Saderis for fiction. The students were amazed that their work had been read by such world class authors. The theme song that blasted Carnegie was "Say What You Want to Say" by John Mayer. The awards attempt to duplicate for the student artist what our culture does for the student athlete all year long. They are affirmed in a major way! I've attached pictures for you to enjoy. Thanks for all the support and encouragement this year.

Warmest Regards,
Casey Curry, M.Ed
Director of Creative Writing
Synapse Literary Magazine Advisor
Writer's Ink Club Sponsor
Howard W. Blake School of the Arts
1701 North Boulevard
Tampa, Florida 33607
(813) 272-3422
fax 272-3715