Every year, young creatives across the nation are recognized in the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Founded in 1923, the awards have established themselves as one of the longest-running and most well-known recognition programs for creative students. The program seeks to highlight young artistic and literary talents with their annual competition, one that Poly students have frequently participated in.

This year, Poly students across the Upper School won 40 art and writing awards collectively, which included Gold Keys, Silver Keys, Honorable Mentions and even a nomination for the American Voices award, an honor bestowed to only five students in per region. Writing winners included freshmen Keira Lam and Audrey Ma; sophomores Miki Chan, Maddie Delbridge, Camellia Ding, Filiz Fish, Amelie Salette and Allison Zhang; juniors Ashley Kim, Dylan Lam, Lyla Pak, Greg Panossian and Ennio Sim and seniors Sharon Chou, Lilie Henry and Audrey Tomlin. (Lam was nominated for the American Voices award.) The art award winners included sophomores Cici Zhu, Oliver Marks, and Jack Gomez.

Last year, Chou won numerous creative writing including two national gold medals. She entered several pieces this year as well. “I submitted six pieces all centered around the theme of ambition. I was looking at the pieces I’ve already written and maybe looking for things that repeat and things I keep coming back to ‘ambition,”’ she said. “Even if it’s not the main point of the story, it has always really interested me because desire for something is such a huge human factor.”