Students Recognized for Their Work in the Arts and Journalism
From memoir writing and poetry to photography and painting, upper school students are being recognized in regional and national academic and artistic competitions for their hard work and creativity.
Fifteen upper school students recently took home Scholastic Art & Writing Awards presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Artists were honored for their creative work in the Northeast Art Region-at-Large, while writers captured top prizes in the 2024 Hudson-to-Housatonic Writing Region.
Categories were judged by leaders in their respective fields and based on originality, technical skill and the emergence of personal voice. All recognized entries are awarded either Gold Key, Silver Key or Honorable Mention status. Gold Key-awarded recipients at the regional level are automatically considered for national awards in June.
This year, Masters performers participated in the first-ever Eastern Student Artist Guild (or ESAG) Awards, a new program designed to acknowledge student work in non-musical theater.
Our Masters MainStage students from the School’s Department of Performing Arts won five awards. A panel of adjudicators, including professional actors, helped to select the winners, who will be honored in an awards ceremony at Manhattanville University on May 4.
Our Masters MainStage students from the School’s Department of Performing Arts won five awards. A panel of adjudicators, including professional actors, helped to select the winners, who will be honored in an awards ceremony at Manhattanville University on May 4.
And this just in. Staff members from Tower, the School’s student-run newspaper, under the guidance of Ellen Cowhey and Matt Ives, Tower faculty co-advisors, have recently received several accolades from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), the Private School Journalism Association (PSJA), Quill and Scroll, the National Scholastic Press Association and the New York State Press Association.
Congratulations to all.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2024
2024 Hudson-to-Housatonic Scholastic Writing Awards
Minwoo Chung ’26
- Honorable Mention - Alaska (Poetry)
- Gold Key - Kimchi Fried Rice (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Rory Frasch ’25
- Silver Key - Grave Site Flash (Fiction)
- Silver Key - To Be 13 (Personal Essay & Memoir)
- Honorable Mention - On Lesbians and Distance and Youth (Poetry)
Olive Intinarelli ’26
- Honorable Mention - Mythical Ethical Icicle Tricycle (Poetry)
Rachel Katzke ’24
- Honorable Mention - The American Dream: Bound by Circumstance? (Critical Essay)
- Honorable Mention - Pathway to Progress (Critical Essay)
Evie Leighton ’26
- Honorable Mention- Eight (Poetry)
Jiayi Mikey Lyu ’25
- Honorable Mention - The Two Lessons (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Sophie Miller ’24
- Honorable Mention - Stained Glass (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Genevieve Topper-Kroog ’26
- Honorable Mention - Birthday Blues (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Sien Eunice Wang ’25
- Gold Key - He Was My Dad (Personal Essay & Memoir)
- Gold Key - 4:30 AM (Personal Essay & Memoir)
- Silver Key - Bite or Beware: The Troubling Surge of Poisoned Pet Food (Journalism)
- Honorable Mention - Little Star (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Zixuan April Wang ’27
- Honorable Mention - Born Alone but Grow Along (Personal Essay & Memoir)
Gigi Wheeler ’27
- Silver Key - Aoife (Dramatic Script)
- Honorable Mention - Filed Complaints (Novel Writing)
Northeast Art Region-at-Large
Chana Kim ’25
- Gold Key- The Rock Chair (Drawing & Illustration)
- Honorable Mention- Young Heroes (Painting)
Jenny Xu ’25
- Silver Key- Striped Bass (Painting)
- Honorable Mention- Red-Winged Blackbird (Drawing & Illustration)
- Honorable Mention- Rhythm of Nature (Painting)
Noa Benerofe ’25
- Honorable Mention- You Don't Know How To Love Me (Photography)
- Gold Key- Youth Within Memory (Photography)
Sien Eunice Wang ’25
- Gold Key- Threads of Time (Photography)
- Silver Key- A Tale of Two Eras (Photography)
- Silver Key- Shelter from a Shower (Photography)
- Honorable Mention- When Your Eyes Meet Mine (Photography)
- Honorable Mention- Contours of Time (Photography)
- Honorable Mention- In a Time of Peace (Photography)
- Honorable Mention- His Creation (Photography)
- Honorable Mention- Lines of Wisdom (Photography)
Lucille Quackenbush ’26
- Gold Key - Gated (Photography)
- Honorable Mention - Love (Photography)
Eastern Student Artist Guild Awards
- Best Theater for Social Change: Polyglot '23
- Best Student-Written Production: “A Front Row Seat to Murder” by McKarthy Grimes '24
- Best Ensemble in a Comedy: The cast of "Titanic 2: The Sequel"
- Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Chanel Neal ’24 for "Good Kids"
- Best Actor in a Drama: Aron Tucker ’24 for "Good Kids"
Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Awards
- Gold Medalist Award - Tower
- Silver Crown - Overall Excellence - Tower
- First Place, Hand Drawn Art/Illustration for a News Publication: Sydney Starkey ’25
- First Place, Sports Commentary for a News Publication: Maia Barantsevitch ’23
- Third Place, Op-Ed or News Analysis Page Design: Matthias Jaylen ’24
- Third Place, Headline Writing for a News Publication: Tower
Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) and Quill and Scroll Awards
- Third Place, Sophomore of the Year - Allie Faber ’26
- Photographer of the Year - Ayanna Beckett ’26
- Second Place, Features Page Design - Neena Atkins ’26, and Lily Zuckerman ’24
- Third Place, Video DEI/Social Justice Reporting - Matthias Jaylen ’24, co-Editor-in-Chief, and Xavier Rolston ’24, director of multimedia, and Carol Queiroz ’23, Tower Broadcast News (TBN) executive producer emeritus
- First Place, Versatile Journalist of the Year - Matthias Jaylen ’24
- First Place, Editorial Leadership Team of the Year - Tower Leadership Team: Lucas Seguinot ’24, co-Editor-in-Chief, Matthias Jaylen ’24, Xavier Rolston ’24, Lily Zuckerman ’24
New York State Press Association
- First Place, Best Website for a High School Newspaper in New York State - Tower
- Third Place, Best Sports Story: Neena Atkins ’26 and Allie Faber ’26
- Second Place, Photography: Xavier Rolston ’24
- Honorable Mention, News Story: Lily Zuckerman ’24
National Scholastic Press Association
- Finalist - National Pacemaker Award - Tower Broadcast News (TBN) 2022-2023
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